mm

Presented to

THE LIBRARY

of

VICTORIA UNIVERSITY

Toronto

by

Professor Millar Maclure

THE LOEB CLASSICAL LIBRARY

FOUNDED BY JAMES LOEB, LL.D.

EDITED BY
tT. E. PAGE, C.H., LITT.D.

fE. CAPPS, PH.D., LL.D. fW. H. D. ROUSE, litt.d.

L. A. POST, L.H.D. E. H. WARMINGTON, m.a., f.r.hist.soc.

LUCAN

LUCAN

WITH AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION BY
J. D. DUFF, M.A.

FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE

THE CIVIL WAR
Books I— X

(PHARSALIA)

LONDON

WILLIAM HEINEMANN LTD

CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS

HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS

MOMLXII

PA

6

78

ls9!28^.

First printed 1928
Reprinted 1943, 1951, 1957, 19S2

QT

Frintfd in Great Britain

CONTENTS

PAOR

PREFACE - vii

INTRODUCTIOx^ ix

THE CIVIL WAR-
BOOK 1 ....... 1

BOOK II 55

BOOK III 113

BOOK IV , 173

BOOK V 237

BOOK VI 303

BOOK vn 367

BOOK VIII 435

BOOK IX ... , 503

BOOK X 589

INDEX 633

PREFACE

Scholars are aware that tlie text and interpreta-
tion of Lucan have been greatly changed for the
better by the edition of Professor A. E. Housman
(Blackwell, 1926). By Mr. Housman's kind per-
mission, his text has been reprinted here, with few
and unimportant deviations. The critical notes
below the text have only one object — to warn the
reader where the words in the text have no manu-
script authority and depend solely on conjecture.
Those who desire an apparatus criticus must seek
it in the editions of Dr. Hosius (Teubner, 1913)
and Mr. Housman.

The translator is also deeply indebted to Mr.
Housman's commentary and to his lectures on
Lucan delivered at Cambridge in ten successive
years. Many apt renderings were taken down in
his lecture-room, and many convincing solutions of
difficulties were there propounded. In particular,
the interpretation of the astronomical problems
depends entirely upon Mr. Housman.

The translation does not profess to be a literal
version of the original. Lucan's manner of ex-|
pression is so artificial that such a version would \>
be unintelligible to an English reader, unless it
were supplemented by copious notes ; and it is a
rule of this series that notes shall be, as far as

vii

PREFACE

possible, suppressed. The translator's object has
been to reproduce Lucan's meaning in English that
can be understood, keeping close to the Latin text
when possible, but deviating from it when a literal
rendering would puzzle and mislead. Some notes
explanatory of the translation are indispensable ;
but these have been added sparingly, and none of
them are long.

One feature of the translation may be worth
notice here. All Latin poets make free use of
apostrophe, more than is common in Greek or
English, and Lucan uses it more freely than any
of them. In this translation the apostrophe is, in
general, suppressed and the sentence turned in a
different way ; the figure is reserved for the more
important occasions. In Latin apostrophe is often
a metrical device, and often a meaningless conven-
tion. There are indeed in Lucan many passages
where it adds to the rhetorical effect. Yet even here
I believe that more is gained than lost, if it is
generally ignored in the translation. The com-
bination of apostrophe and plain statement, common
in Lucan, is hardly endurable in English ; and also
the reader is puzzled and confused when Lucan
addresses his rhetorical appeal to two or three
different persons or places in the same paragraph.

Mr. P. W. Duff, Fellow of Trinity College, Cam-
bridge, gave me much valuable help in preparing the
book for publication.

vni

.s'H''

^

INTRODUCTION

1. Liican's Life

The few facts that are known of Lucan's perf;onal
history are derived chiefly from two ancient Lives
prefixed to some of his manuscripts. One of these,\
which is mutilated^ is attributed to Suetonius, and
the other to Vacca, a grammarian probably of the
sixth century. The circumstances that led to his
death, and his death itself, are related at length
by Tacitus in his Annals (xv. cc. 48-70).

Marcus Annaeus Lucanus was born at Corduba
(now Cordova) in Spain on November 3, a.d. 39,
was taken to Rome when he was seven months old,
and died at Rome on April 30, a.d. 65. He was
therefore in his twenty-sixth year at the time of
his death. Hardly any other event of his life can
be assigned to a fixed date.

Though his family was of provincial origin and
not noble in the Roman sense of the word, because
no member of it had held the magistracies at Rome,
yet Lucan enjoyed every advantage that wealth and
connexion could give. His father, M Annaeus
Mela, was never a senator ; but his uncle, Lucius
Annaeus Seneca, became the most famous man of
his time. First governor and then minister of the
Emperor Nero, he held the office of consul a.d. 56;
he was the most powerful and the richest subject of

ix

INTRODUCTION

the empire ; and he was also the most prolific and
popular writer of his day. There is no doubt that
Lucan was reared under the eye of his uncle, whose
only son died in childhood.

The boy received from the most eminent teachers
the education then given to youths of the governing
/ class at Rome. This education was directed to a

c* M single object — the acquisition of rhetorical skill ; it
began with the study of literature and was com-
pleted in the school of the rhetor or professor of
rhetoric. We are told that Lucan from the first
showed astonishing ability and proved himself
superior to all his fellow-students and not inferior
to his instructors themselves. He was taught the
Stoic philosophy by Cornutus, who had among his
pupils at the same time another poet, the satirist
Persius. There are frequent echoes of Stoic dogma
in Lucan's work, and the whole of it is pervaded —
one might almost say, poisoned — by the rhetoric of
the schools. He began to write very early and
published works both in prose and poetry. He
married at a date unknown Polla Argent-aria, who
combined every possible attraction — youth and
beauty, wealth, virtue, and intellect.^

For a time he was in high favour with Nero. The
young emperor, who wao two years older than Lucan,
took an interest in literature and sought fame, not
only as a musician but also as a poet. At the
Nerojiia, a festival held in Nero's honour, Lucan
delivered a speech in praise of the emperor. We
are told that he was recalled from Athens, where
he was probably residing for the purpose of study,
and received two marks of imperial favour ; he was

* Statius, Siluae, ii. 7, 81-88.

INTRODUCTION

appointed quaestor, though he had not reached the
legal age for holding that office ; and he was also
nominated a member of the college of augurs.

But these friendly relations did not last long.
It appears that Nero became jealous of Lucan's
growing reputation : the young and ambitious poet
was forbidden to publish his writings or even to
recite them to his friends. Stung by resentment,
Lucan took an active and leading part in a con-
spiracy which was formed for the purpose of de-
throning Nero and putting him to death. The
conspiracy was discovered and the conspirators were
arrested, Lucan's courage failed him in the hour
of peril, and he tried to save his life by incriminating
others, among whom was his own mother, Acilia.
But this baseness availed him nothing : he was
forced to die, but permitted to choose the manner
of his death. He chose a method of suicide which
was common at the time : he had his veins opened
in a warm bath and, as he was dying, repeated some
verses of his own which described the death of a
soldier from loss of blood.

His family was involved in his ruin : his father
and his uncles, Seneca and Gallio, were forced to
end their own lives. His widow, Polla Argentaria,
survived her husband many years and continued to
celebrate each anniversary of his birth.^ It is
evident that he left no child to bear his name.

2. Lucan s Poem

Though Lucan wrote much during his short life,
only one work has survived, but this was held to be

1 The poem of Statius (Siluae, ii. 7) was written for one
of these anniversaries ; see also Martial vii. 21 and 23.

xi

INTTRODUCTION

his masterpiece. It is an epic poem in ten hooks,
describing the contest between Caesar and the
Senate. The work was still unfinished when the
author died. For the narrative breaks off abruptly,
and it is also significant that the last book is much
shorter than any of the others. It is tolerably clear
that Lucan meant to end the story with Caesar's
murder in March 44 b.c. ; but it now ends in the
middle of Caesar's military operations at Alexandria
in the winter of 48-47. We are told that Lucan
revised only the first three books and that the last
seven were published after his death ; but this could
not have been inferred from the evidence of the
books themselves.

The poem used to be called " The Pharsalia/' and
the title is convenient. But it is not appropriate,
because it applies only to the events of one book,
the seventh. Nur has it ancient authority: the title
given in the manuscripts is De Bello Civili, " Con-
cerning the Civil War." The mistake probably
arose from the words Pharsalia nostra (ix. 985),
which were wrongly ^ interpreted as " my poem, the
Pharsalia."

No reasonable judgment can rank Lucan among
the world's great epic poets. He does not tell his
story well : the successive episodes are neither
skilfully connected nor well proportioned. His
frequent digressions are often irrelevant and much
too long. His geographical descriptions are obscure
and wearisome. His account of military operations
is hard to follow : he is concise where detail is
needed and dwells at length on trivial or irrelevant
matters. To him the narrative is of secondary

^ See note on this line.
xii

INTRODUCTION

importance: his interest lies elsewhere; the words
said matter more in his view than the things done.
His power and force are undeniable ; but he lacks
the chief gifts that a great epic poet must possess.

He ventured on one innovation which seemed
bold to his contemporaries. He discarded all that |
supernatural machinery which Virgil had taken over \
from Homer. The gods play no part in the action ;
Venus never comes down from Olympus to protect
Caesar, her descendant. The later epic poets did
not follow Lucan's example in this matter ; but
there is no doubt that he was right. He was deal-
ing with Roman history and with fairly recent
events ; and the introduction of the gods as actors
must have been grotesque.

Quintilian in his short notice of Lucan sums up
his merits adequately : " Lucan's poem is full of fire
and energy and famous for epigram ; and, to speak
my mind, he is a safer model for the orator than for
the poet." ^ The truth is, that Lucan is not a poet
in the sense in which Lucretius and Virgil are poets ;
he is read, not for any poetical quality but for his
rhetorical invective and his pungent epigrams. His
diction and rhythm are monotonous : he makes no
attempt to imitate the elaborate harmonies of
Virgil. It appears that his purpose is less to charm
his readers than to startle them and maketheir flesh
creep ; and with this object he has constant recourse
to extravagant exaggeration or repulsive detail.
Whether he would have written better if he had
lived longer we cannot tell ; but, for all his faults,

^ Quint. Inst, Or. x. 1. 90: Lucanua ardens et concitatus et
sentenliis claHssimns, et, ut dicarn quod sentio, magis oraiorihus
quam poetis tmttavdits.

xiii

INTRODUCTION

he won a high reputation among his own country-
men ; and Statins and Martial, writing long after his
death, do not scruple to name him as the writer of
Latin epic poetry who comes nearest to Virgil.

In modern times also great writers have admired
Lucan's poem. Shelley actually preferred Lucan to
Virgil and immortalised his name in the Adonais.
Macaulay read the poem through repeatedly, and
recorded his opinion as follows at the end of the
volume on August 30, 1835.

^' When Lucan's age is considered, it is impossible
not to allow that the poem is a very extraordinary
one, more extraordinary, perhaps, than if it had been
of a higher kind ; for it is more common for the
imagination to be in full vigour at an early time of
life than for a young man to obtain a complete
mastery of political and philosophical rhetoric, I
know no declamation in the world, not even Cicero's
best, which equals some passages in the Pharsalia,^
As to what were meant for bold poetical flights — the
sea-fight at Marseilles, the centurion who is covered
with wounds, the snakes in the Libyan desert ^ — it
is all as detestable as Cibber's Birthday Odes. The
furious partiality of Lucan takes away much of the
pleasure which his talents would otherwise afford.
A poet who is, as has often been said, less a poet
than a historian, should to a certain degree conform
to the laws of history. The manner in which he
represents the two parties is not to be reconciled
with the laws even of fiction. The senators are

^ Macaulay elsewhere picks out as specially eloquent the
enumeration of Pompey's exploits (viii. 806-822) and Cato's
character of Pompey (ix. 190-203).

2 iii, 583 foil. ; iv. 138-262 ; ix. 700-889.

XIV

INTRODUCTION

demigods ; Pompey, a pure lover of his country ;
Cato, the abstract idea of virtue ; while Caesar, the
finest gentleman, the most humane conqueror, and
the most popular politician that Rome ever produced,
is a bloodthirsty ogre. If Lucan had lived, he
would probably liave improved greatly."

I

XV

r

LUCAN'S

CIVIL WAR

BOOK I

M. ANNAEI LUCANI
DE BELLO CIVILI

LIBER PRIMUS

Bella per Emathios plus quam civilia campos,

lusque datum seel eri canimus^ populumque potentem

In sua victrici conversum viscera dextra,

Cognatasque acies, et rupto foedere regni

Certatum totis eoncussi viribus orbis 6

In commune nefas, infestisque obvia signis

Signa, pares aquilas et pila minantia pilis.

Quis furor^ o cives, quae tanta licentia ferri ?
Gentibus invisis Latium praebere cruorem,
Cumque superba foret Babylon spolianda tropaeis 10
Ausoniis umbraque erraret Crassus inulta,
Bella geri placuit nullos habitura triumphos ?
Heu, quantum terrae potuit pelagique parari
Hoc quem civiles hauserunt sanguine dextrae,
Unde venit Titan, et nox ubi sidera condit, 15

Quaque dies medius' flagrantibus aestuat auris,^

* auris Oudendorp : horis MS8.

* Because Pompey and Caesar were not merely fellow-citizens
but kinsmen.

* Emathia is used freely by Lucan as a synonym for either
Thessaly or Pharsalia,

LUCAN
THE CIVIL WAR

BOOK I

Of war I sing, war worse than civil,^ waged over
the plains of Emathia,^ and of legality conferred on
crime ; I tell how an imperial people turned their
victorious right hands against their own vitals ; how
kindred fought against kindred ; how, when the
compact of tyranny ^ was shattered, all the forces of
the shaken world contended to make mankind
guilty; how standards confronted hostile standards,
eagles were matched against each other, and pilum *
threatened pilum.

What madness was this, my countrymen, what
fierce orgy of slaughter ? While the ghost of Crassus
still wandered unavenged, and it was your duty to
rob proud Babylon ^ of her trophies over Italy, did you
choose to give to hated nations the spectacle of
Roman bloodshed, and to wage wars that could win
no triumphs ? Ah ! with that blood shed by Roman
hands how much of earth and sea might have been
bought — where the sun rises and where night hides

' The First Triumvirate, formed by Pompey, Caesar, and
Crassus in 60 B.C.

* The javelin of the Roman legionary.

* Babylon is used here as a synonym for Parthia : the
real capital was Ctesiphon.

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Et qua bruma rigens ac nescia vere remitti

Astringit Scythico glacialem frigore pontum !

Sub iuga iam Seres, iam barbarus isset Araxes,

Et gens si qua iacet nascenti conscia Nilo. 20

Turn, si tantus amor belli tibi, Roma, nefandi,

Totum sub Latias leges cum miseris orbem.

In te verte manus ; nondum tibi defuit hostis.

At nunc semirutis pendent quod moenia tectis

Urbibus Italiae lapsisque ingentia muris 26

Saxa iacent nulloque domus custode tenentur

Rarus et antiquis habitator in urbibus errat,

Horrida quod dumis multosque inarata per annos

Hesperia est desuntque manus poscentibus arvis,

Non tu, Pyrrhe ferox, nee tantis cladibus auctor 30

Poenus erit ; nulli penitus descendere ferro

Contigit : alta sedent civilis volnera dextrae.

Quod si non aliam venturo fata Neroni
Invenere viam magnoque aeterna parantur
Regna deis cael unique suo servire Tonanti 35

Non nisi saevorum potuit post bella gigantum,
Iam nihil, o superi, querimur ; scelera ista nefasque
Hac mercede placent ; diros Pharsalia campos
Inpleat et Poeni saturentur sanguine manes ;
Ultima funesta concurrant proelia Munda ; 40

His, Caesar, Perusina fames Mutinaeque labores
Accedant fatis et quas premit aspera classes
Leucas et ardenti servilia bella sub Aetna :

1 The Euxine or Black Sea. * Hannibal.

3 At Thapsus. * The battle of Actiura is meant.

4

BOOK I

the stars, where the South is parched with burning
airs, and where the rigour of winter tliat no spring
can thaw binds the Scythian sea ^ with icy cold ! Ere
this the Chinese might have passed under our yoke,
and the savage Araxes, and any nation that knows
the secret of Nile's cradle. If Rome has such a lust
for unlawful warfare, let her first subdue the whole
earth to her sway and then commit self-slaughter ; so
far she has never lacked a foreign foe. But, if now in
Italian cities the houses are half-demolished and the
walls tottering, and the miglity stones of mouldering
dwellings cumber the ground ; if the houses are
secured by the presence of no guard, and a mere
handful of inhabitants wander over the site of
ancient cities ; if Italy bristles with thorn-brakes,
and her soil lies unploughed year after year, and the
fields call in vain for hands to till them, — these
great disasters are not due to proud Pyrrhus or the
Carthaginian ^ ; no other sword has been able to
pierce so deep ; the strokes of a kindred hand are
driven home.

Still, if Fate could find no other way for the
advent of Nero ; if an everlasting kingdom costs
the gods dear and heaven could not be ruled by its
sovran, the Thunderer, before the battle with the
fierce Giants, — then we complain no more against
the gods : even such crimes and such guilt are not
too high a price to pay. Let Pharsalia heap her
awful plains with dead ; let the shade of the Cartha-
ginian 2 be glutted with carnage ; ^ let the last
battle be joined at fatal Munda; and though to
these be added the famine of Perusia and the horrors
of Mutina, the ships overwhelmed near stormy
Leucas^ and the war against slaves hard by the

M. ANNAF.US LUCANUS

Multum Roma tamen debet civilibus armis,

Quod tibi res acta est. Te, cum statione peracta 46

Astra petes serus, praelati regia caeli

Excipiet gaudente polo ; seu sceptra tenere,

Seu te flammigeros Phoebi conscendere currus,

Telluremque nihil mutato sole timentem

Igne vago lustrare iuvet, tibi numine ab omni 60

Cedetur, iurisque tui natura relinquet,

Quis deus esse velis, ubi regnum ponere mundi.

Sed neque in arctoo sedem tibi legeris orbe,

Nee polus aversi calidus qua vergitur austri,

Unde tuam videas obliquo sidere Romam. 65

Aetheris inmensi partem si presseris unam,

Sentiet axis onus. Librati pondera caeli

Orbe tene medio ; pars aetheris ilia sereni

Tota vacet, nullaeque obstent a Caesare nubes.

Tum genus humanum positis sibi consulat armis, 60

Inque vicem gens omnis amet ; pax missa per orbem

Ferrea belligeri conpescat limina lani.

Sed mihi iam numen ; nee, si te pectore vates

Accipio, Cirrhaea velim secreta moventem

Sollicitare deum Bacchumque avertere Nysa : 65

Tu satis ad vires Romana in carmina dandas.

Pert animus causas tantarum expromere rerum,
Inmensumque aperitur opus, quid in arma furentem
Inpulerit populum, quid pacem excusserit orbi.
Invida fatorum series summisque negatum 70

1 Weight is a regular attribute of divinity in ancient
mythology.

6

BOOK I

flames of Etna, yet Rome owes much to civil war,
because what was done was done for you, Caesar.
When your watch on earth is over and you seek the
stars at last, the celestial palace you prefer will
welcome you, and the sky will be glad. Whether
you choose to wield Jove's sceptre, or to mount the
fiery chariot of Phoebus and circle earth with your
moving flame — earth unterrified by the transference
of the sun ; every god will give place to you, and
Nature will leave it to you to determine what deity
you wish to be, and where to establish your universal
throne. But choose not your seat either in the
Northern region or where the sultry sky of the
opposing South sinks down : from these quarters
your light would look aslant at your city of Rome.
If you lean on any one part of boundless space, the
axle of the sphere will be weighed down ^ ; maintain
therefore the equipoise of heaven by remaining at the
centre of the system. May that region of the sky
be bright and clear, and may no clouds obstruct our
view of Caesar ! In that day let mankind lay down
their arms and seek their own welfare, and let all
nations love one another; let Peace fly over the
earth and shut ftist the iron gates of warlike Janus.
But to me you are divine already ; and if my breast
receives you to inspire my verse, I would not care to
trouble the god who rules mysterious Delphi, or to
summon Bacchus from Nysa : you alone are sufficient
to give strength to a Roman bard.

My mind moves me to set forth the causes of
these great events. Huge is the task that opens
before me — to show what cause drove peace from
earth and forced a frenzied nation to take up arms.
It was the chain of jealous fate, and the speedy

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Stare diu nimioque graves sub pondere lapsus

Nee se Roma ferens. Sic, cum conpage solnta

Saecula tot muiidi suprema coegerit hora,

Antiquum repetens iterum chaos, [omnia ^ mixtis

Sidera sideribus concurrent] ignea pontum 7j

Astra petent, tellus extendere littora nolet

Excutietque fretum, fratri contraria Phoebe

Ibit et obliquum bigas agitare per orbem

Indignata diem poscet sibi, totaque discors

Machina divolsi turbabit foedera mundi. 80

In se magna ruunt : laetis hunc numina rebus

Crescendi posuere modum. Nee gentibus ullis

Commodat in populum terrae pelagique potentem

Invidiam Fortuna suam. Tu causa malorum

Facta tribus dominis communis, Roma, nee unquam 86

In turbam missi feralia foedera regni.

O male Concordes nimiaque cupidine caeci.

Quid miscere iuvat vires orbemque tenere

In medio ? dum terra fretum terramque levabit

Aer et longi volvent Titana labores 90

Noxque diem caelo\totidem per signa sequetur.

Nulla fides regni sociis, omnisque potestas

Inpatiens consortis erit. Nee gentibus ullis

Credite, nee longe fatorum exempla petantur :

Fraterno primi maduerunt sanguine muri. 06

Nee pretium tanti tellus pontusque furoris

^ omnia — concurrent was excluded by Bentley.

1 I.e. she will heave them up.

2 The moon drives two horses {hiqae) ; the sun has four.
^ The triumvirs. * The twelve signs of the Zodiao.

8

BOOK I

fall which no emincDce can escape ; it was the
grievous collapse of excessive weight, and Home
unable to support her own greatness. Even so,'
when the framework of the world is dissolved and the
final hour, closing so many ages, reverts to primeval
chaos, then [all the constellations will clash in con-
fusion,] the fiery stars will drop into the sea, and earth,
refusing to spread her shores out flat,^ will shake
off the ocean ; the moon will move in opposition to
her brother, and claim to rule the day, disdaining to
drive her chariot ^ along her slanting orbit ; and the
whole distracted fabric of the shattered firmament
will overthrow its laws. Great things come crash-
ing down upon themselves — such is the limit of
growth ordained by heaven for success. Nor did
Fortune lend her grudge to any foreign nations, to
use against the people that ruled earth and sea : the
doom of Kome was due to Rome herself, when she
became the joint property of three masters,^ and
when despotism, which never before was shared
among so many, struck its bloody bargain. Blinded
by excess of ambition, the Three joined hands for
mischief. What boots it to unite their strength and
rule the world in common? As long as earth
supports the sea and air the earth ; as long as his
unending task shall make the sun go round, and
night shall follow day in the heavens, each passing
through the same number of signs *-^so long will
loyalty be impossible between sharers in tyranny,
and great place will resent a partner. Searcli not
the history of foreign nat7jns for proof, nor look far
for an instance of Fate's decree : the rising walls of
Rome M'ere wetted with a brother's blood. Nor was
such madness rewarded then by lordship over land

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Tunc erat : exiguum dominos commisit asylum.

Temporis angusti mansit concordia discors,
Paxque fuit non sponte ducum ; nam sola futuri
Crassus erat belli medius mora. Qualiter undas 100
Qui secat et geminum gracilis mare separat Isthmos
Nee patitur conferre fretum, si terra recedat,
Ionium Aegaeo frangat mare : sic_, ubi saeva
Arma ducum dirimens miserando funere Crassus
Assyrias Latio maculavit sanguine Carrhas, 105

Parthica Romanos solverunt damna furores.
Plus ilia vobis acie, quam creditis, actum est,
Arsacidae : bellum victis civile dedistis.
Dividitur ferro regnum, populique potentis.
Quae mare, quae terras, quae totum possidet orbem,
Non cepit fortuna duos. Nam pignora iuncti 111

Sanguinis et diro ferales omine taedas
Abstulit ad manes Parcarum Julia saeva
Intercepta manu. Quod si tibi fata dedissent
Maiores in luce moras, tu sola furentem 115

Inde virum poteras atque hinc retinere parentem
Armatasque manus excusso iungere ferro,
[Jt generos soceris mediae iunxere Sabinae.
Morte tua discussa fides, bellumque movere
Permissum ducibus. Stimulos dedit aemula virtus :
Tu, nova ne veteres obscurent acta triumphos 121

Et victis cedat piratica laurea Gallis,

* The earliest settlement of Romulus was a sanctuary for
criminals.

" The Parthian kings bore the name of Arsaces ; hence the
nation are called Arsacidae here and elsewhere in the poem.

' Julia, daughter of Caesar and wife of Pompey, died in the
autumn of 54 B.C. The "dread omen " apparently refers to her
coming death.

* Lucan uses this name for Pompey more often than
1 Pompeius : Caesar he always calls Caesar.

lO

BOOK I

and sea : the narrow bounds of the Asylum * pitted its
owners one against the other.

For a brief space the jarring harmony was main-
tained, and tliere was peace despite the will of the
chiefs ; for Crassus, who stood between, was the only
check on imminent war. So the Isthmus of Corinth
divides the main and parts two seas with its slender
line, forbidding them to mingle their waters ; but if
its soil were withdrawn, it would dash the Ionian sea
against the Aegean. Thus Crassus kept apart the
eager combatants ; but when he met his pitiable end
and stained Syrian Carrhae with Roman blood, the
loss inflicted by Parthia let loose the madness of
Rome. By that battle the Parthians ^ did more than
they realise : they visited the vanquished with civil
war. The tyrants' power was divided by the sword ;
and the wealth of the imperial people, that possessed
sea and land the whole world over, was not enough
for two. For, when Julia ^ was cut off by the cruel
hand of Fate, she bore with her to the world below
the bond of affinity and the marriage which the
dread omen turned to mourning. She alone, had
Fate granted her longer life, might have restrained
the rage of her husband on one side and her father
on the other ; she might have struck down their
swords and joined their armed hands, as the Sabine
women stood between and reconciled their fathers
to their husbands. But loyalty was shattered by
the death of Julia, and leave was given to the
chiefs to begin the conflict. Rivalry in worth
spurred them on ; for Magnus * feared that fresher
exploits might dim his past triumphs, and that his
victory over the pirates might give place to the
conquest of Gaul, while Caesar was urged on by

II

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Magne, limes ; te iam series ususque laborum
Erigit inpatiensque loci fortuna secundi ;
Nee quemquam iam ferre potest Caesarve priorem
' Pompeiusve parem. Quis iustius induit arma, 126

Scire nefas ; magno se iudice quisque tuetur :
Victrix causa deis placuit, sed victa Catoni.
Nee coiere pares. Alter vergentibus annis
In senium longoque togae tranquillior usu 130

Dedidicit iam pace ducem, famaeque petitor
Multa dare in volgus, totus popularibus auris
Inpeliij plausuque sui gaud ere theatri.
Nee reparare novas vires^ multumque priori
Credere fortunae. Stat magni nominis umbra ; 135

Qualis frugifero quercus sublimis in agro
Exuvias veteres populi sacrataque gestans
Dona ducum nee iam validis radicibus haerens
Pondere fixa suo est, nudosque per aera ramos
EfFundens trunco, non frondibus, efficit umbram ; 140
Et quamvis primo nutet casura sub Euro,
Tot circum silvae firmo se robore tollant,
Sola tamen colitur. Sed non in Caesare tantum
Nomen erat nee fama ducis, sed nescia virtus
Stare loco, solusque pudor non vincere bello ; 145

Acer et indomitus, quo spes quoque ira vocasset,
Ferre manum et numquam temerando parcere ferro,
Successus urguere suos, instare favori
Numinis, inpellens, quidquid sibi summa petenti
Obstaret, gaudensque viam fecisse ruina. 160

^ Pompey, born in 106 B.C., was six years older than Caesar.
12

BOOK I

continuous effort and familiarity with warfare, and
by fortune that brooked no second place. Caesar
could no longer endure a superior, nor Pompey
an equal. Which had the fairer pretext for war-
fare, we may not know : each has high authority to
support him ; for, if the victor had the gods on his
side, the vanquished had Cato. The two rivals were
ill-matched. The one was somewhat tamed by de-
clining years ; ^ for long he had worn the toga and for-
gotten in peace the leader's part ; courting reputa-
tion and lavish to the common people, he was swayed
entirely by the breath of popularity and delighted
in the applause that hailed him in the theatre he
built ; and trusting fondly to his former greatness,
he did nothing to support it by fresh power. The
mere shadow of a mighty name he stood. Thus

j^j an oak-tree, laden with the ancient trophies of a
nation and the consecrated gifts of conquerors,
towers in a fruitful field ; but the roots it clings by
have lost their toughness, and it stands by its weight
alone, throwing out bare boughs into the sky and
making a shade not with leaves but with its trunk ;

iT' though it totters doomed to fall at the first gale,
while many trees with sound timber rise beside it,
yet it alone is worshipped. But Caesar had more
than a mere name and military reputation : his
energy could never rest, and his one disgrace was
to conquer without war. He was alert and head-
strong ; his arms answered every summons of am-
bition or resentment; he never shrank from using
the sword lightly ; he followed up each success and
snatched at the favour of Fortune, overthrowing
every obstacle on his path to supreme power, and
rejoicing to clear the way before him by destruction.

13

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Qualiter expressum ventis per nubila fulmen

Aetheris inpulsi sonitu mundique fragore

Emicuit rupitque diem populosque paventes

Terruit obliqua praestrin^^ns lumina flamma ;

In sua templa furitj nullaque exire vetante 155

Materia magnamque cadens magnamque revertens

Dat stragem late sparsosque recolligit ignes.

Hae ducibus causae ; suberant sed publica belli
Semina^ quae populos semper mersere potentes.
Namque, ut opes nimias mundo fortuna subacto 160

Intulit et rebus mores cessere secundis,
Praedaque et hostiles luxum suasere rapinae,
Non auro tectisve modus, mensasque priores
Aspernata fames ; cultus gestare decoros
Vix nuribus rapuere mares; fecunda virorum 165

Paupertas fugitur, totoque accersitur orbe
Quo gens quaeque perit ; turn longos iungere fines
Agrorum, et quondam duro sulcata Camilli
Vomere et antiquos Curiorum passa ligones
Longa sub ignotis extendere rura colonis. 170

Non erat is populus, quern pax tranquilla iuvaret,
Quem sua libertas inmotis pasceret armis.
Inde irae faciles et, quod suasisset egestas,
Vile nefas, magnumque decus ferroque petendum,
Pius patria potuisse sua, mensuraque iuris 175

Vis erat ; hinc leges et plebis scita coactae

* There was only one famous Curius ; but Latin often uses
the plural in the sense of "men like Curius" ; of. 1. 313.

14

BOOK I

Even so the lightning is driven forth by wind
through the clouds : with noise of the smitten
heaven and crashing of the firmament it flashes out
and cracks the daylight sky, striking fear and terror
into mankind and dazzling the eye with slanting
flame. It rushes to its appointed quarter of the
sky ; nor can any solid matter forbid its free course,
but both falling and returning it spreads destruction
far and wide and gathers again its scattered fires.

Such were the motives of the leaders. But among
the people there were hidden causes of war — the
causes which have ever brought down ruin upon
imperial racei^. For when Rome had conquered the
world and Fortune showered excess of wealth upon
her, virtue was dethroned by prosperity, and the
spoil taken from the enemy lured men to extrava-
gance : they set no limit to their wealth or their
dwellings ; greed rejected the food that once sufficed ;
men seized for their use garments scarce decent for
women to wear ; poverty, the mother of manhood, be-
came a bugbear ; and from all the earth was brought
the special bane of each nation. Next they stretched
wide the boundaries of their lands, till those acres,
which once were furrowed by the iron plough of
Camillus and felt the spade of a Curius^ long ago,
grew into vast estates tilled by foreign cultivators.
Sucli a nation could find no pleasure in peace and
quiet, nor leave the sword alone and grow fat on
their own freedom. Hence they were quick to
anger, and crime prompted by poverty was lightly
regarded ; to overawe the State was high distinction
which justified recourse to the sword ; and might
became the standard of right. Hence came laws
and decrees of the people passed by violence ; and

15

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Et cum consulibus turbantes iura tribuni ;

Hinc rapti fasces pretio sectorque favoris

Ipse sui populus letalisque ambitus urbi

Annua venali referens certamina Campo ; 180

Hinc usura vorax avidumque in tempora fenus

Et concussa fides et multis utile bellum.

lam gelidas Caes^' cursu superaver^ Alpes
Ingentesque^animo^ motus bellum que futurum
Ceperat. Ut ventum est parvi Rubiconis ad unda^,
Tngens visa duci patnae trepidantis imago 186

Clar^ per obscuram vpltu niaestissima noctem,
Turrigero c^nos effundens vertice crines,
Caesarie_lacera njudisque ads_tare lacjertis
Et gengijitu permixta loqui : '' Quo tenditis ultra ? 190
Quo fertis mea signa, viri ? si iure venitis,
Si cives, hue usque licet." Tum perculit horror
Membra ducis, riguere comae, gressumque coercens
Languor in extrema tenuit vestigia ripa.
Mox ait : " O magnae qui moenia prospicis urbis 195
Tarpeia de rupe, Tonans, Phrygiique penates
Gentis luleae et rapti secreta Quirini
Et residens celsa Latiaris luppiter Alba
Vestalesque foci simimique o numinis instar,
Roma, fave coeptis ; non te furialibus armis 200

Persequor ; en adsum victor terraque marique
Caesar, ubique tuus — liceat modo, nunc quoque — miles.

1 Order should be represented by the consuls, and progress by
the tribunes; but both bodies were equally factious.

- Elections to the magistracies were held in the Campn,s
Martins.

3 Personifications of cities often wear this kind of crown.

i6

BOOK I

consuls and tribunes ^ alike threw justice into con-
fusion ; hence office was snatched by bribery and
the people put up its own support for auction, while
corruption, repeating year by year the venal com-
[>etition of the Cainpus,^ destroyed the State ;
lience came devouring usury and interest that looks
greedily to the day of payment ; credit was shattered,
and many found their profit in war.

And now Caesar had hastened across the frozen
Alps and had conceived in his heart the great
rebellion and the coming war. When he reached
the little river Rubicon, the general saw a vision of
his distressed country. Her mighty image was
clearly seen in the darkness of night; her face
expressed deep sorrow, and from her head, crowned
with towers,^ the white hair streamed abroad ; she
stood beside him with tresses torn and arms bare,
and her speech was broken by sobs : " Whither do
ye march further ? and whither do ye bear my
standards, ye warriors ? If ye come as law abiding
citizens, here must ye stop." Then trembling smote
the leader's limbs, his hair stood on end, a faintness
stopped his motion and fettered his feet on the edge
of the river-bank. But soon he spoke: '^O God
of thunder, who from the Tarpeian rock lookest out
over the walls of the great city ; O ye Trojan gods
of the house of lulus, and mysteries of Quirinus
snatched from earth ; O Jupiter of Latium, who
dwellest on Alba's height, and ye fires of Vesta;
and thou, O Rome, as sacred a name as any, smile
on my enterprise ; I do not attack thee in frantic
warfare ; behold me here, me Caesar, a conqueror
by land and sea and everywhere thy champion, as I
would be now also, were it possible. His, his shall

VOL. I b

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Ille erit, ille nocens, qui me tibi fecerit hostem/*
Inde moras solvit belli tumidumque per amnem
Signa tulit propere ; sicut squalentibus arvis 205

Aestiferae Li byes vlso leo comminus hoste
Subsedit dubius, totam dum colligit iram ;
Mox, ubi se saevae stimulavit verbere caudae
Erexitque iubam et vasto grave murmur hiatu
Infremuit, turn, torta levis si lancea Mauri 210

Haereat aut latum subeant venabula pectus.
Per ferrum tanti securus volneris exit.

Fonte cadit modico parvisque inpellitur undis
Puiiiceus Rubicon, cum fervida canduit aestas,
Perque imas serpit valles et Gallica certus 216

Limes ab Ausoniis disteniiinat arva colonis.
Tum vires praebebat hiemps, atque auxerat undas
Tertia iam gravido pluvialis Cynthia cornu
Et madidis Euri resolutae flatibus Alpes.
Primus in obliquum sonipes opponitur amnem 220

Excepturus aquas ; moUi tum cetera rumpit
Turba vado faciles iam fracti fluminis undas.
Caesar, ut adversam superato gurgite ripam
Attigit, Hesperiae vetitis et const! tit arvis, 224

" Hie," ait, '^ hie pacem temerataque iura relinquo ;
Te, Fortuna, sequor. Procul hinc iam foedera sunto ;
Credidimus satis his,^ utendum est iudice bello."
Sic fatus noctis tenebris rapit agmina ductor
Inpiger, et torto Balearis vjerbere fundae

* satis his TTowman : fat is MSS.

^ I.e., rushes on so violently that the spear pierces him
through and through.

2 The meaning is that there had been three nights of rain.

i8

BOOK I

be the guilt, who has made me thine enemy."
Then he loosed war from its bonds and carried his
standards in haste over the swollen stream. So on
the untilled fields of sultry Libya, when the lion sees
his foe at hand, he crouches down at first uncertain
till he gathers all his rage ; but soon, when he has
maddened himself with the cruel lash of his tail,
and made his mane stand up, and sent forth a roar
from his cavernous jaws, then, if the brandished
lance of the nimble Moor stick in his flesh or a
spear pierce his great chest, he passes on along the
length of the weapon,^ careless of so sore a wound.

The ruddy river Rubicon glides through the
bottom of the valleys and serves as a fixed landmark
to divide the land of Gaul from the farms of Italy.
Issuing from a modest spring, it runs with scanty
stream in the heat of burning summer ; but now it
was swollen by winter ; and its waters were increased
by the third rising of a rainy moon ^ with moisture-
laden horn, and by Alpine snows which damp blasts
of wind had melted. First the cavalry took station
slantwise across the stream, to meet its flow ; thus
the current was broken, and the rest of the army
forded the water with ease. When Caesar had
crossed the stream and reached the Italian bank on
the further side, he halted on the forbidden terri-
tory : " Here," he cried, " here I leave peace behind
me and legality which has been scorned already;
henceforth I follow Fortune. Hereafter let me
hear no more of agreements. In them I have put
my trust long enough ; now I must seek the arbitra-
ment of war." Thus spoke the leader and quickly
urged his army on through the darkness of night.
Faster he goes than the bullet whirled from the

19

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Ocior et missa Parthi post terga sagitta, , 230

Vicinumque minax invadit Ariminum, et ignes

Solis lucifero fugiebant astra relicto.

lanique dies primos belli visura tumultus

Exoritur ; seu sponte deiini, seu turbidus auster

Inpulerat, maestam tenuerunt nubila lucem. 236

Constitit ut capto iussus deponere miles

Signa foro, stridor litimm clangorque tubarum

Non pia concinuit cum raueo classica cornu.

Rupta quies populi, stratisque excita iuventus

Deripuit sacris adfixa peiiatibus arma, 240

Quae pax longa dabat : nuda iam crate fluentes

Invadunt clipeos curvataque cuspide pila

Et scabros nigrae morsu rubiginis enses.

Ut notae fulsere aquilae Romanaque signa

Et celsus medio conspectus in agmine Caesar^ 246

Deriguere metu, gelidos pavor occupat artus,

Et tacito mutos volvunt in pectore questus :

" O male vicinis haec moenia condita Gallis,

O tristi damnata loco ! pax alta per omnes 249

Et tranquilla quies populos ; nos praeda furentum

Primaque castra sumus. Melius, Fortuna, dedisses

Orbe sub Eoo sedera gelidaque sub arcto

Errantesque domos, Latii quam claustra tueri.

Nos primi Senonum motus Cimbrumque ruentem

20

- J ' BOOK I

Balearic sling, or the arrow which the Parthian
shoots over his shoulder. Ariniinum was the nearest
town, and he brought terror there, when the stars
were fleeing from the sunlight and the morning
star alone was left. So the day dawned that was
to witness the first turmoil of the war ; but clouds
veiled the mournful light, either because the gods
so willed or because the stormy South wind had
driven them up. When the soldiers halted in the
captured forum and were bidden to lay down their
standards, the blare of trumpets and shrill note of
clarions together with the boom of horns sounded
the alarm of civil war. The inhabitants were roused
from sleep. Starting from tlieir beds, the men
snatched down the arms that hung beside the house-
hold gods — such arms as the long peace supplied :
they lay hold on shields that are falling to pieces
with framework exposed, javelins with their points
bent, and swords roughened by the bite of black
rust. But when they recognised the glitter of the
Roman eagles and standards and saw Caesar mounted
in the midst of his army, they stood motionless with
fear, terror seized their chilly limbs, and these un-
uttered complaints they turn over in their silent
breasts : " Alas for our town, built with Gaul beside
it and doomed by its unlucky site to misfortune !
Over all the earth there is profound peace and un-
broken quiet ; but we are the booty and first bivouac
of these madmen. Fate would have been kinder
if she had placed us under the Eastern sky or the
frozen North, and made us guard the tents of
nomads rather than the gates of Italy. We were
the first to witness the movement of the Senones,
the onrush of the Cimbrian, the sword of Hannibal,

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Vidimus et Martem Libyae cursumque furoris 265

Teutonici : quotieiis llomam fortuna lacessit,

Hac iter est bellis." Gemitu sic quisque latenti,

Non ausus timuisse palam ; vox nulla dolori

Credita ; sed quantum, volucres cum bruma coercet,

Rura silent, mediusque tacet sine murmure pontus,

Tanta quies. Noctis gelidas lux solverat umbras,

Ecce faces belli dubiaeque in proelia menti 262

Urguentes addunt stimulos cunctasque pudoris

Rumpunt fata moras ; iustos Fortuna laborat

Esse ducis motus et causas invenit armis. 265

Expulit ancipiti discordes urbe tribunos

Victo iure minax iactatis curia Gracchis.

Hos iam mota ducis vicinaque signa petentes

Audax venali comitatur Curio lingua,

Vox quondam populi libertatemque tueri 270

Ausus et armatos plebi miscere potentes.

Utque ducem varias volventem pectore curas

Conspexit : '' Dum voce tuae potuere iuvari,

Caesar," ait ^^ partes, quamvis nolente senatu,

Traximus imperium, tum cum mihi rostra tenere 275

lus erat et dubios in te transferre Quirites.

At postquam leges bello siluere coactae,

Pellimur e patriis laribus patimurque volentes

Rxilium ; tua nos faciet victoria cives.

Dum trepidant nullo firmatae robore partes, 280

ToUe moras ; semper nocuit diiferre paratis.

1 The dates of these invasions are: 390, 101, 218, and 101 B.C.:
Lucan's order is artificial.

2 Whom the Senate had crushed in 133 and 121 b.c. The
tribunes expelled on this occasion were Antony and Q. Cassius.

22

BOOK I

and the wild career of the Teutones * : whenever
Fortune attacks Rome, the warriors take their way
through us." This was each man's muffled groan ;
none dared to utter his fear aloud, nor was any
voice lent to their grief; such is the silence of the
country when winter strikes the birds dumb, and
such the silence of mid-ocean in still weather.
When light had banished the cold shades of night,
lo ! destiny kindled the flame of war, applying to
Caesar's hesitating heart the spur that pricked him
to battle, and bursting all the barriers that reverence
opposed. Fate was determined to justify Caesar's
rebellion, and she found excuse for drawing the
sword. For the Senate, trampling on the laws, had
menaced and driven out the wrangling tribunes
from the distracted city, and boasted of the doom
of the Gracchi ^ ; and now the fugitives made for
Caesar's camp, already far advanced and close to
Rome. With them came Curio of the reckless
heart and venal tongue ; yet once he had been the
spokesman of the people and a bold champion of
freedom, who dared to bring down the armed chiefs
to the level of the crowd. When Curio saw Caesar
turning over shifting counsels in his heart, he spoke
thus : " Caesar, while my voice could serve your side
and when I was permitted to hold the Rostrum and
bring over doubting citizens to your interest, I pro-
longed your command in defiance of the Senate.
But now law has been silenced by the constraint
of war, and we have been driven from our country.
We suffer exile willingly, because, your victory will
make us citizens again. While your foes are in
confusion and before they have gathered strength,
make haste ; delay is ever fatal to those who are

23

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Par labor atque metus, pretio maiore petiintur.
Bellanteni gemiiiis tenuit te Gallia lustris.
Pars quota terrarum ! facili si proelia pauca
Gesseris eventu, tibi Roma subegerit orbein. 285

Nunc neque te longi remeantem pom{)a triumphi
Excipit, aut sacras poscunt Capitolia laurus ;
Livor edax tibi cuncta negat, gentesque subactas
Vix inpune feres. Socerum depellere regno
Decretum genero est ; partiri non potes orbem, 290

Solus habere potes." Sic postquam fatus, et ipsi
In bellum prono tantum tamen addidit irae
Accenditque ducem, quantum clamore iuvatur
Eleus sonipes, quamvis iam carcere clauso
Inmineat foribus pronusque repagula laxet. 295

Convocat armatos extemplo ad signa maniplos,
Utque satis trepidum turba coeunte tumultum
Conposuit voltu dextraque silentia iussit,
" Bellorum o socii, qui mille pericula Martis
Mecum" ait '' expert! decimo iam vincitis anno, 300

Hoc cruor Arctois meruit difFusus in arvis
Volneraque et mortes liiemesque sub Alpibus actae }
Non secus ingenti bellorum Roma tumultu
Concutitur, quam si Poenus transcenderet Alpes
Hannibal: inplentur validae tirone cohortes ; 305

In classem cadit omne nemus ; terraque marique
lussus Caesar agi. Quid ? si mihi signa iacerent

24

BOOK I

prepared. The toil and danger are no greater than
before, but the prize you seek is higher. Twice
five years Gaul kept you fighting ; but how small
a part of the earth is Gaul ! Win but two or three
battles, and it will be for you that Rome has subdued
the world. As it is, no long triumphal procession
awaits your return, nor does the Capitol demand
your consecrated laurels ; gnawing envy denies you
all things, and you will scarce go "unpunished for
your conquest of foreign nations. Your daughter's
husband has resolved to thrust you down from
sovereignty. Half the world you may not have, but
you can have the whole world for yourself." Eager
for war as Caesar was already, these words of Curio
increased his rage and fired his ardour none the
less ; so the race-horse at Olympia is encouraged
by the shouting, although he is already pressing
against the gates of the closed barrier and seeking
to loosen the bolts with his forehead. At once
Caesar summoned his armed companies to the
standards; his mien quieted the bustle and con-
fusion of the assembling troops, his right hand
commanded silence, and thus he s])oke : " Men who
have fought and faced with me the peril of battle
a thousand times, for ten years past you have been
victorious. Is this your reward for blood shed on
the fields of the North, for wounds and death, and
for winters passed beside the Alps? The huge
hubbub of war with which Rome is shaken could be
no greater, if Carthaginian Hannibal had crossed
the Alps. Cohorts are raised to their full strength
with recruits ; every forest is felled to make ships ;
the word has gone forth that Caesar be chased by
land and sea. What would my foes do if my

25

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Marte sub adverse, ruerentque in terga feroces

Gallorum populi ? nunc, cum fortuna secundis

Mecum rebus agat superique ad summa vocantes, 310

Temptamur. Veniat longa dux pace solutus

Milite cum subito partesque in bella togatae

Marcellusque loquax et, nomina vaiia, Catones.

Scilicet extremi Pompeium emptique clientes

Continue per tot satiabunt tempora regno ? 315

I lie reget currus nondum patientibus annis ?

Ille semel raptos numquani dimittet honores?

Quid iam rura querar totum suppressa per orbem

Ac iussam servire famem ? quis castra timenti

Nescit mixta foro, gladii cum triste micantes 320

ludicium insolita trepidum cinxere corona,

Atque auso medias perrumpere milite leges

Pompeiana reum clauserunt signa Milonem ?

Nunc quoque, ne lassum teneat privata senectus,

Bella nefanda parat suetus civilibus armis 325

Et docilis Sullam scelerum vicisse magistrum.

Utque ferae tigres nunquam posuere furorem,

Quas nemore Hyrcano, matrum dum lustra secuntur,

Altus caesorum pavit cruor armentorum,

Sic et Sullanum solito tibi lambere ferrum 330

Durat, Magne, sitis. Nullus semel ore receptus

Pollutas patitur sanguis mansuescere fauces.

Quem tamen inveniet tarn longa potentia finem ?

Quis scelerum modus est ? ex hoc iam te, inprobe, regno

* 0. Marcellus was consul in 49 b.c. ; the other consul was
Lentulus.

* In 57 B.C. Pompey was put in charge of the corn-supply,
with proconsular powers for five years.

26

BOOK I

standards lay prostrate in defeat and the tribes of
Gaul were rusliing in triumph to attack my rear?
As it is, when Fate deals kindly with me and the
gods summon me to the highest place, my foes chal-
lenge me. Let their leader, enervated by long
peace, come forth to war with his hasty levies and
un warlike partisans — Marcellus,^ that man of words,
and Cato, that empty name. Shall Pompey for-
sooth be glutted by his vile and venal minions with
despotic power renewed so often without a break ?
Shall Pompey hold the chariot reins before reaching
the lawful age ? Shall Pompey cling for ever to
the posts he has once usurped ? Why should I
next complain that he took into his own hands the
harvests of the whole world and forced famine to
do his bidding ? ^ Who knows not how the barrack
invaded the frightened law-court, when soldiers
with the grim gUtter of their swords stood round
the uneasy and astonished jurors ? how the warrior
dared to break into the sanctuary of justice, and
Pompey's standards besieged Milo in the dock r
Now once again, to escape the burden of an obscure
old age, Pompey is scheming unlawful warfare.
Civil war is familiar to him : he was taught
wickedness by Sulla and is like to outdo his teacher.
As the fierce tiger, who has drunk deep of the blood
of slain cattle when following his dam from lair to
lair in the Hyrcanian jungle, never after loses his
ferocity, so Magnus, once wont to lick the sword
of Sulla, is thirsty still. When blood has once been
swallowed, it never permits the throat it has tainted
to lose its cruelty. Will power so long continued
ever find an end, or crime a limit? He is never
content ; but let him learn one lesson at least from

27

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Ille tuus saltern doceat descendere Sulla. 335

Post Cilicasne vagos et lassi Pontica regis

Proelia barbarico vix consummata veneno

Ultima Pompeio dabitur provincia Caesar,

Quod non victrices aquilas deponere iussus

Paruerim ? mihi si merces erepta laborum est, 340

His saltern longi non cum duce praemia belli

Reddantur ; miles sub quolibet iste triumphet.

Conferet exsanguis quo se post bella senectus ?

Quae sedes erit emeritis ? quae rura dabuntur.

Quae noster veteranus aret ? quae moenia fessis ? 345

An melius fient piratae, Magne, coloni ?

Tollite iampridem victricia, tollite, signa ;

Viribus utendum est, quas fecimus. Arma tenenti

Omnia dat, qui iusta negat. Neque numina derunt ;

Nam neque praeda meis neque regnum quaeritur armis :

Detrahimus dominos urbi servire paratae." 351

Dixerat ; at dubium non claro murmure volgus
Secum incerta fremit. Pietas patriique penates
Quamquam caede feras mentes animosque tumentes
Frangunt ; sed diro ferri revocantur amore 355

Ductorisque metu. Summi turn munera pill
Laelius emeritique gerens insignia doni,
Servati civis referentem praemia quercum,
" Si licet," exclamat " Romani maxime rector

^ The Cilicians stand for the Mediterranean pirates generally.
The King of Pontus was Mithradates ; when reduced to despair,
he took poison, but it failed to kill him.

2 I.e. justifies him in taking even mora

^ Probably a tictitious person.

28

BOOK 1

his master, Sulla— to step down at this stage from
his unlawful power. First came the roving Cilicians,
and then the lingering warfare with the King of
Pontus^ — warfare hardly completed by the infamy
of poison ; shall I, Caesar, be assigned to Pompey
as his crowning task, because, wlien bidden lay
down my victorious eagles, I was disobedient ? But,
if I am robbed of the reward for my labours, let my
soldiers at least, without their leader, receive the
recompense of their long service ; and let them
triumph, be their leader who he may. What
harbour of peace will they find for their feeble old
age, what dwelling-place for their retirement ?
What lands will my veterans receive to till, what
walls to shelter their war-worn frames ? Shall
Magnus give the pirates preference as colonists?
Lift up, lift up the standards that have long been
victorious ! We must employ the strength we have
created. He who denies his due to the strong man
armed grants him everything.^ Nor will the favour
of Heaven fail us ; for neither booty nor empire is
the object of my warfare : we are but dislodging a
tyrant from a State prepared to bow the knee."

Thus he spoke ; but the men wavered and muttered
doubtfully under their breath with no certain sound.
Fierce as they were with bloodshed and proud of
heart, they were unnerved by love of their country
and their country's gods, till brought to heel by
horrid love of slaugiiter and fear of their leader.
Then Laelius,^ who held the rank of chief centurion
and bore the decoration of a well-earned badge — the
oak-leaves which are the reward for saving a Roman's
life — cried out thus : '' Mightiest captain of the
Roman nation, if I have leave to speak and if it

89

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Nominis, et ius est veras expromere voces, -^ 360

Quod tain lenta tuas tenuit patientia vires,

Conquerimur. Deratne tibi fiducia nostri?

Dum movet haec calidus spirantia corpora sanguis,

Et dum pila valent fortes torquere lacerti,

Degenerem patiere togam regnumque senatus ? 365

Usque adeo miserum est civili vincere bello ?

Due age per Scythiae populos, per inhospita Syrtis

Litora, per calidas Libyae sitientis harenas :

Haec manus, ut victum post terga relinqueret orbem,

Oceani tumidas remo conpescuit undas^ 370

Fregit et arctoo spumantem vertice Rhenum :

lussa sequi tam posse niihi quam velle necesse est.

Nee civis meus est, in quem tua classica, Caesar,

Audiero. Per signa decern felicia castris

Perque tuos iuro quocumque ex hoste triumphos : 376

Pectore si fratris gladium iuguloque parentis

Condere me iubeas plenaeque in viscera partu

Coiiiugis, invita peragam tamen omnia dextra ;

Si spoliare deos ignemque inmittere templis,

Numina miscebit castrensis flamma monetae ; 380

Castra super Tusci si ponere Thybridis undas,

Hesperios audax veniani metator in agros ;

Tu quoscumque voles in planum effundere muros.

His aries actus disperget saxa lacertis,

Ilia licet, penitus tolli quam iusseris urbem, 385

Roma sit." His cunctae simuJ adsensere cohortes

Elatasque alte, quaecumque ad bella vocaret.

1 The meaning is : "However arduous a campaign you require
of me, 1 have the power to go through with it, as I have proved
already in the Gallic wars."

30

BOOK I

be right to confess the truth, our complaint is, that
you have borne too much and restrained your
strength too long. Was it confidence in us that
you lacked ? While the warm blood gives motion
to these breathing frames, and while our muscles
have strength to hurl the pilum, will you submit
to the disgrace of wearing the toga and to the
tyranny of the Senate? Is it so wretched a fate
to be victorious in a civil war? Lead us straight-
way through the tribes of Scythia, or the inhospitable
shore of the Syrtes, or the burning sands of thirsty
Libya — that we might leave a conquered world at
our backs, these hands tamed with the oar the
swelling waves of Ocean and the foaming eddies
of the northern Rhine — I must have as much power
as will to follow where you lead.^ If I hear your
trumpet sound the charge against any man, he is no
countryman of mine. By your standards, victorious
in ten campaigns, and by your triumphs I swear,
whoever be the foe whom you triumph over — if you
bid me bury my sword in my brother's breast or
my father's throat or the body of my teeming wife,
1 will perform it all, even if my hand be reluctant.
If you bid me plunder the gods and fire their
temples, the furnace of the military mint shall melt
down the statues of the deities ; if you bid me pitch
the camp by the waters of Etruscan Tiber, I shall
make bold to invade the fields of Italy and there
mark out the lines ; whatever walls you wish to
level, these arms shall ply the ram and scatter
the stones asunder, even if the city you doom to
utter destruction be Rome." To this speech all the
cohorts together signified their assent, raising their
hands on high and promising their aid in any war

51

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Promisere manus. It tantus ad aethera clamor,
Quaintus_, piniferae Boreas cum Thracius Ossae
Rupibus incubuit, curvato robore pressae 390

Fit son us aut rursus redeuntis in aethera silvae.
Caesar, ut acceptum tam prono milite bellum
Fataque ferre videt^ ne quo languore moretur
Fortunam, sparsas per Gallica rura cohortes
Evocat et Romam motis petit undique signis. 395

Deseruere cavo tentoria fixa Lemanno
Castraque, quae Vosegi curvam super ardua ripam
Pugnaces pictis cohibebant Lingonas armis.
Hi vada liquerunt Isarae, qui, gurgite ductus
Per tam multa suo, famae maioris in amnem 400

Lapsus, ad aequoreas nomen non pertulit undas.
Solvuntur flavi longa statione Ruteni ;
Mitis Atax Latias gaudet non ferre carinas
Finis et Hesperiae, promoto limite, Varus ;
Quaque sub Herculeo sacratus nomine portus 405

Urguet rupe cava pelagus : non Corus in ilium
lus habet aut Zephyrus, solus sua litora turbat
Circius et tuta prohibet statione Monoeci :
Quaque iacet litus dubium, quod terra fretumque
Vindicat alternis vicibus, cum funditur ingens 410

Oceanus, vel cum refugis se fluctibus aufert.
Ventus ab extremo pelagus sic axe volutet
Destituatque ferens, an sidere mota secundo

^ The name of a local wind.

* The tides on the Belgian coast are meant here.

3«

BOOK I

to which Caesar summoned them. Their shout rose
to heaven : as loud as, when the Thracian North wind
bears down upon the cHffs of pine-clad Ossa, the
forest roars as the trees are bent towards earth, or
again as they rebound into the sky.

When Caesar saw that war was so eagerly wel-
comed by the soldiers, and that Fate was favourable,
he would not by any slackness delay the course of
destiny, but summoned his detachments scattered
through the land of Gaul and moved his standards
from every quarter for the march on Rome. The
soldiers left their tents pitched by Lake Leman
among the mountains, and the camp which crowned
the winding bank of the Vosegus, and controlled the
warlike Lingones with their painted weapons.
Others left the fords of the Isara — the river which
travels so far with its own waters and then falls
into a more famous stream, losing its name before
it reaches the sea. The fair-haired Ruthenians
were freed from the garrison that long had held
them ; the gentle Atax, and the Varus, the boundary
of Italy enlarged, rejoiced to carry no Roman keels ;
free was the harbour sacred under the name of
Hercules, whose hollow cliff encroaches on the sea
— over it neither Corus nor Zephyrus has power :
Circius ^ alone stirs up the shore and keeps it to
himself and bars the safe roadstead of Monoecus ;
and free the strip of disputed coast, claimed in
turn by land and sea, when the enormous Ocean
either flows in or withdraws with ebbing waves.^
Does some wind from the horizon drive the sea
thus on and fail it as it carries it ? Or are the
,. waves of restless Tethys attracted by the second
of the heavenly bodies and stirred by the phases

33

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Tethyos unda vagae lunaribus aestuet horis,

Flammiger an Titan, ut alentes hauriat undas, 415

Erigat oceanum fluctusque ad sidera ducat,

Quaerite, quos agitat mundi labor ; at mibi semper

Til, quaecumque moves tam crebros causa meatus,

Ut superi voluere, late. Tunc rura Nemetis

Qui tenet et ripas Aturi, qua litore curvo 420

Molliter admissum claudit Tarbellicus aequor,

Signa movet, gaudetque amoto Santonus boste

Et Biturix longisque leves Suessones in armis,

Optimus excusso Leucus llemusque lacerto.

Optima gens flexis in gyrum Sequana frenis, 425

Et docilis rector monstrati Belga covinni,

Arvernique ausi Latio se fingere fratres

Sanguine ab Iliaco populi, nimiumque rebellis

Nervius et caesi pollutus foedere Cottae,

Et qui te laxis imitantur, Sarmata, bracis 430

Vangiones, Batavique truces, quos acre recurvo

Stridentes acuere tubae ; qua Cinga pererrat

Gurgite, qua Rbodanus raptum velocibus undis

In mare fert Ararim, qua montibus ardua summis

Gens habitat cana pendentes rupe Cebennas. 435

TPictones inmunes subigunt sua rura ; nee ultra

instabiles Turones circumsita castra coercent.

In nebulis, Meduana, tuis marcere perosus

Andus iam ])lacida Ligeris recreatur ab unda.

Inclita Caesareis Genabos dissolvitur alis.] ^ 440

u quoque laetatus convert! proelia, Trevir,
¥A nunc tonse Ligur, quondam per colla decore
Crinibus effusis toti praelate Comatae ;
Et quibus inmitis placatur sanguine diro
Teutates horrensque feris altaribus Esus 445

^ 436-440 are certainly spurious verses ; 430-435 are not
above suspicion.

34

u^"^ '^;

BOOK I

9^'

of the moon? Or does fire-bearing Titan, in order
to quaft" the waves that feed him, lift up the Ocean
and draw its billows skyward ? 1 leave the enquiry
to those who study the workings of the universe :
for me, let the cause, whatever it be, that produces
such constant movements, remain, as the gods have
wished it to remain, for ever hidden. Gone are the
soldiers who held the region of the Nemes and
banks of the Atyrus, where the Tarbellians hem in
the sea that beats lightly against the winding shore.
The departure of their foe brings joy to the
Santoni and Bituriges ; to the Suessones, nimble in
spite of their long spears ; to the Leuci and Remi
who excel in hurling the javelin, and to the Sequani
who excel in wheeling their bitted steeds ; to the
Belgae, skilled in driving the war-chariot invented
by others, and to the Arvernian clan who falsely
claim descent from Troy and brotherhood with
Rome ; to the Nervii, too prone to rebel against
us and stained by breach of their treaty with
slaughtered Cotta ; to the Vangiones, who wear
loose trousers like the Sarmatians, and to the
fierce Batavians, whose courage is roused by the
blare of curved bronze trumpets. There is joy
where the waters of Cinga stray, where the Rhone
snatches the Arar in swift current and bears it to
the sea, and where a tribe perches on the mountain
heiglits and inhabits the snow-covered rocks of the
Cevennes./ The Treviri too rejoiced that the troops
were moved ; so did the Ligurians with hair now
cropped, though once they excelled all the long-
haired land in the locks that fell in beauty over
their necks ; and those who propitiate with horrid
victims ruthless Teutatcs, and Esus whose savage

35

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Et Taranis Scythicae non mitior ara Dianae.

Vos quoque, qui fortes aiiimas belloque peremptas

Laudibus in longum vates dimittitis aevum,

Pluriiiia securi fudistis carinina, Bardi.

Et vos barbaricos ritus moremque sinistrum 450

Sacrorum, Dryadae, positis repetistis ab armis.

Solis nosse deos et caeli numiiia vobis

Aut solis nescire datum ; iiemora alta remotis

Incolitis lueis ; vobis auctoribus umbrae

Non tacitas Erebi sedes Ditisque profundi 455

Pallida regna petunt : regit idem spiritus artus

Orbe alio ; longae, canitis si cognita, vitae

Mors media est. Certe populi, quos despicit Arctos,

Felices errore suo, quos ille timorum

Maximus baud urguet, leti metus. Inde ruendi 460

In ferrum mens prona viris animaeque capaces

Mortis, et ignavum rediturae parcere vitae.

Et vos, crinigeros Belgis ^ arcere Cay cos

Oppositi, petitis Romam Rhenique feroces

Deseritis ripas et apertum gentibus orbem. 465

Caesar, ut inmensae conlecto rebore vires
Audendi maiora fid em fecere, per omnem
Spargitur Italiam vicinaque moenia conplet.
Vana quoque ad veros accessit fama timores
Inrupitque animos populi clademque futuram 470

Intulit et velox properantis nuntia belli
Innumeras solvit falsa in {)raeconia linguas.

1 Belgis Bcntley : bellis MS8.

^ The Romans identified Teutates, Esus, and Taranis with
their own Mars, Mercury, and Jupiter.

2 Their belief is so unlike tliat of other peoples that, if they
are right, all others are wrong.

36

gUZA BOOK T

shrine makes men shudder, and Taranis/ whose altar
is no more benign than that of Scythian Diana.
The Bards also, who by the praises of their verse
transmit to distant ages the fame of heroes slain
in battle, poured forth at ease their lays in abund-
ance. And the Druids, laying down their arms, rv^^tJ^
went back to the barbarous rites and weird cere- y'^^^^
monies of their worship. (To them alone is granted (
knowledge — or ignorance, it may be — of gods and
celestial powers ^ ; tiiey dwell in deep fgf);^ts with
sequestered groves ; they teach that the soul does
not descend to the silent land of Erebus and the
sunless realm of Dis below, but that the same breath
still governs the limbs in a different scene. If their
tale be true, death is but a point in the midst of
continuous life. Truly the nations on whom the
Pole star looks down are happily deceived ; for they
are free from that king of terrors, the fear of death.
This gives the warrior his eagerness to rush upon
the steel, his courage to face death, and his con-
viction that it is cowardly to be careful of a life
that will come back to him again.) The soldiers
also set to keep the long-haired Cayci away from
the Belgae, left the savage banks of the Rhine and
made for Home ; and the empire was left bare to
foreign nations.

When Caesar's might was gathered together and
his huge forces encouraged him to larger enterprise,
he spread all over Italy and occupied the nearest
towns. False report, swift harbinger of imminent
war, was added to reasonable fears, invading men's
minds with presentiments of disaster, and loosing
countless tongues to spread lying tales. The
messengers report that horsemen are charging in

37

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Est qui, tauriferis ubi se Mevania campis

Explicat, audaces ruere in certamina turmas

Adferat, et qua Nar Tiberino inlabitur amni 475

Barbaricas saevi discurrere Caesaris alas ;

Ipsum omiies aquilas conlataque signa ferentem

Agmine non uno densisque incedere castris.

Nee qualem meminere vident : maiorque ferusque

Mentibus occurrit victoque inmanior hoste. 480

Hunc inter Rhenum populos Albimque ^ iacentes,

Finibus Arctois patriaque a sede revolsos,

Pone sequi, iussamque feris a gentibus urbem

Roniano spectante rapi. Sic quisque pavendo

Dat vires famae, nulloque auctore malorum, 485

Quae finxere, timent. Nee solum volgus inani

Percussum terrore pavet ; sed curia et ipsi

Sedibus exiluere patres, invisaque belli

ConsulibusTugiens mandat decreta senatus.

Turn, quae tuta petant et quae metuenda relinquant 490

Incerti, quo quemque fugae tulit impetus^ urguet

Praecipitem populum, serieque haerentia longa

Agmina prorumpunt. Credas aut tecta nefandas

Corripuisse faces aut iam quatiente ruina

Nutantes pendere domos : sic turba per urbem 495

Praecipiti Ijmphata gradu, velut unica rebus

Spes foret adflictis patrios excedere muros,

Inconsulta ruit. Qualis, cum turbidus Auster

Reppulit a Libycis inmensum Syrtibus aequor

Fractaque veliferi sonuerunt pondera mali, 500

Desilit in fluctus deserta puppe magister

» Albimque leverus : Alpemque MSS.

* I.e. the Germans.

38

BOOK I

fierce combat on the wide plains that breed
Mevania's bulls ; that the foreign cavalry of fierce
Caesar are riding to and fro where the Nar joins the
Tiber ; and that their leader, advancing all his
collected eagles and standards, is marching on with
many a column and crowded camps. Men's present
view of him differs from their recollection : they
think of him as a monster, more savage than the foe
he has conquered. Men say that the tribes which
dwell between the Rhine and the Elbe,^ uprooted
from their northern homes, are following in his rear ;
and that the word has gone forth that Rome, under
the eyes of the Romans, shall be sacked by savage
nations. Thus each by his fears adds strength to
rumour, and all dread the unconfirmed dangers
invented by themselves. Nor was the populace alone
stricken with groundless fear. The Senate House
was moved; the Fathers themselves sprang up from
their seats ; and the Senate fled, deputing to the
consuls the dreaded declaration of war. Then,
knowing not where to seek refuge or where to
flee danger, each treads on the heels of the hasten-
ing population, wherever impetuous flight carries
him. Forth they rush in long unbroken columns ;
one might think that impious firebrands had seized
hold of the houses, or that the buildings were sway-
ing and tottering in an earthquake shock. For the
frenzied crowd rushed headlong tlirough the city
with no fixed purpose, and as if the one chance of
relief from ruin were to get outside their native
walls. So, when the stormy South wind has driven
tiie vast sea from the Syrtes of Libya and the heavy
mast with its sails has come crashing down, the
skipper abandons the helm and leaps down with his

39

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Navitaque, et nondum sparsa conpage carinae

Naufragium sibi quisque facit ; sic urbe relicta

In helium fugitur. Nullum iam languidus aevo

Evaluit revocare parens coniunxve maritum 503

Fletibus, aut patrii, dubiae dum vota salutis

Conciperent, tenuere lares : nee limine quisquam

Haesit, et extreme tunc forsitan urbis amatae

Plenus abit visa ; ruit inrevocabile volgus.

O faciles dare summa deos eademque tueri 610

Difficiles ! Urbem populis victisque frequentem

Gentibus et generis, coeat si turba, capacem

Humani facilem venture Caesare praedani

fgnavae liquere manus. Cum pressus ab lioste

Clauditur externis miles Homanus in oris, 516

EfFugit exiguo nocturna pericula vallo,

Et subitus rapti munimine caes})itis agger

Praebet secures intra tentoria somnos :

Tu tantum audito bellorum nomine, Roma,

Desereris ; nox una tuis non credita muris. 520

Danda tamen venia est tantorum, danda, pavorum :

Pompeio fugiente timent. Tum, ne qua tiituri

Spes saltem trepidas mentes levet, addita fati

Peioris manifesta fides, superique minaces

Prodigiis terras inplerunt, aetiiera, pontum. 625

Ignota obscurae viderunt sidera noctes

Ardentemque polum flammis caeloque volantes

Obliquas per inane faces crinemque timendi

Sideris et terris mutantem regna cometen.

Fulgura fallaci micuerunt crebra sereno, 530

40

gUKA:^ BOOK I

crew into the sea, and each man makes shipwreck
for himself before the planks of the hull are broken
asunder. Thus Rome is abandoned, and flight is the
preparation for war. No aged father had the power
to keep back his son, nor weeping wife her husband ;
none was detained by the ancestral gods of his
household, till he could frame a prayer for preserva-
tion from danger ; none lingered on his threshold
ere he departed, to satiate his eyes with the sight of
the city he loved and might never see again.
Nothing could keep back the wild rush of the
people. How ready are the gods to grant supremacy
to men, and how unready to maintain it ! Rome
that was crowded with citizens and conquered
peoples, Rome that could contain the human race
assembled, was left by coward hands an easy prey to
invading Caesar. When the Ronjan soldier is closely
besieged by the foenian in a distant land, he defies
the |)erils of the liight behind a slender palisade ;
hastily he throws up the sods, and the protection of
his mound lets him sleep untroubled in his tent.
But Rome is abandoned as soon as the word "war"
is heard ; her walls are no safeguard for a single
night. Yet such panic fear must be forgiven;
Ponipey in flight gives cause for terror. Then, that
no hope even for the future might relieve anxiety,
clear proof was given of worse to come, and the
menacing gods filled earth, sky, and sea with
portents. The darkness of night saw stars before
unknown, the sky blazing with fire, lights shooting
athwart the void of heaven, and the hair of the
baleful star — the comet which portends change to
monarchs. The lightning flashed incessantly in a
sky of delusive clearness, and the fire, flickering in

41

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Et varias ignis denso dedit acre formas,

Nunc iaculum longo, nunc sparso lumine lam pas.

Emicuit caelo taciturn sine nubibus uUis

Fulmen et Arctois rapiens de partibus ignem

Percussit Latiare caput, stellaeque minores 635

Per vacuum solitae noctis decurrere tempus

In medium venere diem, cornuque coacto

lam Phoebe toto fratrem cum redderet orbe,

Terrarum subita percussa expalluit umbra.

Ipse caput medio Titan cum ferret Olympo, 540

Condidit ardentes atra caligine currus

Involvitque orbem tenebris gentesque coegit

Desperare diem ; qualem fugiente per ortus

Sole Thyesteae noctem duxere Mycenae.

Ora ferox Siculae laxavit Mulciber Aetnae 545

Nee tulit in caelum flammas, sed vertice prono

Ignis in Hesperium cecidit latus. Atra Charybdis

Sanguineum fundo torsit mare. Flebile saevi

Latravere canes. Vestali raptus ab ara

Ignis, et ostendens confectas flamma Latinas 550

Scinditur in partes geminoque cacumine surgit

Thebanos imitata rogos. Tum cardine tellus

Subsedit, veteremque iugis nuta'iitibus Alpes

Discussere nivem. Tetliys maioribus undis

Hesperiam Calpen summumque inplevit Atlanta. 555

Indigetes flevisse deos urbisque laborem

Testatos sudore Lares, delapsaque tempi is

Dona suis, dirasque diem foedasse volucres

Accipimus, silvisque feras sub nocte relictis

Audaces media posuisse cubilia Roma. 560

^ Alba Loiiga, the ancient centre of the Latin League, is meant.

2 When the Theban princes, Eteocles and Polynices, were
burned on the same pyre, the flame parted in two, signifying
their enmity in their lifetime.

42

BOOK I

the heavens, took various shapes in the thick atmo-
sphere, now flaring far like a javelin, and now like a
torch with fan-like tail. A thunderbolt, without
noise or any clouds, gathered fire from the North
and smote the capital of Latium.^ The lesser stars,
which are wont to move along the sunless sky by
night, now became visible at noon. The moon,
when her horns were united in one and she was
reflecting her brother luminary with her disk at the
full, suddenly was smitten by the earth's shadow and
grew dim. The sun himself, while rearing his head
in the zenith, hid his burning chariot in black dark-
ness and veiled his sphere in gloom, forcing mankind
to despair of daylight; even such a darkness crept
over Mycenae, the city of Thyestes, when the sun
fled back to where he rose. In Sicily fierce Mulciber
opened wide the mouths of Etna ; nor did he lift its
flames skyward, but the fire bowed its crest and fel
on the Italian shore. Black Charybdis churned up
waves of blood from the bottom of the sea, and the
angry bark of Scylla's dogs sank into a whine. From
Vesta's altar the fire vanished suddenly; and the
bonfire which marks the end of the Latin Festival
split into two and rose, like the pyre of the Thebans,*
with double crest. The earth also stopped short
upon its axis, and the Alps dislodged the snow of
ages from their tottering summits ; and the sea filled
western Calpe and remotest Atlas with a flood of
waters. If tales are true, the national deities shed
tears, the sweating of the household gods bore wit-
ness to the city's woe, offerings fell from their place
in the temples, birds of ill omen cast a gloom upon
the daylight, and wild beasts, leaving the woods by
night, made bold to place their lairs in the heart of

43

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

1 um pecudum faciles humana ad murmura linguae,
Monstrosique hominum partus iiumeroque modoque
Membrorum, matremque suus conterruit infans ;
Diraque per popiilum Cumanae carmina vatis
Volgantur. Tum^ quos sectis Bellona lacertis 565

Saeva movet, cecinere deos, crinemque rotantes
Sanguineum populis ulularunt tristia Galli.
Coiij>ositis plenae gemuerunt ossibus urnae.
Turn fragor armor um magnaeque per avia voces
Auditae iiemorum et venientes comminus umbrae. 57t
Quique colunt iunctos extremis moenibus agros,
Diffugiunt : ingens urbem cingebat Erinys
Excutieus pronam flagranti vertice pinum
Stridentesque comas, Thebanam qualis Agaven
Inpulit aut saevi contorsit tela Lycurgi 51 L

Eumenis, aut qualem iussu lunonis iniquae
Horruit Alcides, viso iam Dite, Megaeram.
Insonuere tubae, et quanto clamore cohortes
Miscentur, tantum nox atra silentibus auris
Edidit. E medio visi consurgere Campo 58(

Tristia Sullani cecinere oracula manes,
ToUentemque caput gelidas Anienis ad undas
Agricolae Marium fracto fugere sepulchre.

Haec propter placuit Tuscos de more vetusto
Acciri vates. Quorum qui maximus aevo 58i

Arruns incoluit desertae moenia Lucae,
Fulminis edoctus motus venasque calentes
Fibrarum et monitus errantis in acre pinnae,

* The priests of the Great Mother.

* She had snakes for hair.

3 A Thracian king who attacked Dionysus.

44

BOOK I

Rome. Also, the tongues of brutes became capable
of human speech ; and women gave birth to creatures
monstrous in the size and number of their limbs, and
mothers were appalled by the babes they bore ; and
boding prophecies spoken by the Sibyl of Cumae
passed from mouth to mouth. Again, the worshippers
who gash their arms, inspired by fierce Bellona
chanted of heaven's wrath, and the Galli ^
whirled round their gory locks and shrieked disaster
to the nations. Groans came forth from urns filled
with the ashes of dead men. The crash of arms was
heard also, and loud cries in pathless forests, and the
noise of spectral armies closing in battle. From the
fields nearest the outside walls the inhabitants fled
in all directions; for the giant figure of a Fury
stalked round the city, shaking her hissing ^ hair
and a pine-tree whose flaming crest she held down-
wards. Such was the Fury that maddened Agave at
Thebes or launched the bolts of fierce Lycurgus^;
and such was Megaera, when, as the minister of
Juno's cruelty, she terrified Hercules, though he had
seen Hell already. Trumpets sounded ; and dark
nights, when winds were still, gave forth a shouting
loud as when armies meet. The ghost of Sulla was
seen to rise in the centre of the Campus and prophe-
sied disaster, while Marius burst his sepulchre and
scattered the country-people in fligJit by rearing his
head beside the cool waters of the Anio.

Therefore it was resolved to follow ancient custom
and summon seers from Etruria. The oldest of these
was Arruns who dwelt in the deserted city of Luca ;
the course of the thunderbolt, the marks on entrails
yet warm, and the warning of each wing that strays
through the sky, had no secrets for him. First, he

45

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Monstra iubet primum, quae nullo semine discors
Protulerat natura, rapi sterilique nefandos
Ex utero fetus infaustis urere flammis.
Mox iubet et totam pavidis a civibus urbem
Ambiri et, festo purgantes moenia lustro,
Longa per extremes pomeria cingere fines
Pontifices, sacri quibus est permissa potestas.
Turba minor ritu sequitur succincta Gabino,
V^estalemque chorum ducit vittata sacerdos,
Troianam soli cui fas vidisse Minervam ;
Tum, qui fata deum secretaque carmina servant
Et lotam parvo revocant Almone Cybeben,
Et doctus volucres augur servare sinistras
Septemvirque epulis festis Titiique sodales
Et Salius laeto portans aneilia coUo
Et tollens apicem generoso vertice flamen.
Dumque illi effusam longis anfractibus urbem
Circumeunt, Arruns dispersosTuImlhis ignes
Colligit et terrae maesto cum murmure condit
Datque locis numen ; sacris tunc admovet aris
Electa cervice marem. lam fundere Bacchum
Coeperat obliquoque molas inducere cultro,
Inpatiensque diu non grati victima sacri,
Cornua succincti premerent cum torva ministri,
Deposito victum praebebat poplite collum.
Nee cruor emicuit solitus, sed volnere largo
Diffusum rutilo dirum pro sanguine virus.
Palluit attonitus sacris feralibus Arruns

^ The offspring of a mule would answer this description.

* The sacred boundary of the city.

3 The quiiidemnviri, or College of Fifteen.

46

BOOK I

bids the destruction of monsters, which nature, at
variance with herself, had brought forth from no
seed, and orders that the abominable fruit of a
barren womb^ shall be burned with wood of evil
omen. Next, at his bidding the scared citizens
march right round the city; and the pontiffs, who
have licence to perform the ceremony, purify the
walls with solemn lustration and move round the
outer limit of the long pomerium.^ Behind them
come the train of inferior priests, close-girt in Gabine
fashion. The band of Vestals is led by a priestess
with a fillet on her brows, to whom alone it is
permitted to set eyes on Trojan Minerva ; next are
those ^ who preserve the prophecies of the gods
and mystic hymns, and who recall Cybele from her
bath in the little river Almo ; then the Augurs,
skilled to observe birds flying on the left, the Seven
who hold festival at banquets, the Titian guild, the
Salii who bear the Shields in triumph on their
shoulders, and the Flamen, raising aloft on his high-
born head the pointed cap. Wliile the long pro-
cession winds its way round the wide city, Arruns
collects the scattered fires of the thunderbolt and
hides them in the earth with doleful muttering.
He gives sanctity to the spot, and next brings near to
the holy altar a bull with neck chosen for the sacri-
fice. When he began to pour wine and to sprinkle
meal with slanting knife, the victim struggled long
against the unacceptable sacrifice ; but when the
high-girt attendants thrust down its formidable
horns, it sank to the ground and offered its helpless
neck to the blow. No red blood spouted forth from '
the gaping wound, but a slimy liquid, strange and
dreadful, came out instead. Appalled by the funereal

47

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Atque iram superum raptis quaesivit in extis.
Terruit ipse color vatem ; nam pallida taetris
Viscera tincta notis gelidoque infecta cruore
Plurimus asperso variabat sanguine liver. 620

Cernit tabe iecur madidum, venasque minaces
Hostili de parte videt. Pulmonis anheli
Fibra latet, parvusque secat vitalia limes.
Cor iacet, et saniem per hiantes viscera rimas
Emittunt, produntque suas omenta latebras. 625

Quodque nefas nullis inpune apparuit extis,
Ecce,^ videt capiti fibrarum increscere molem
Alterius capitis. Pars aegra et marcida pendet,
Pars micat et celeri venas movet inproba pulsu.
His ubi concepit magnorum fata malorum, 630

Exclamat : " Vix fas, superi, quaecumque movetis,
Prodere me populis ; nee enim tibi, summe, litavi,
luppiter, hoc sacrum, caesique in pectora tauri
Inferni venere dei. Non fanda timemus ;
Sed venient maiora metu. Di visa secundent, 635

Et fibris sit nulla fides ; sed conditor artis
Finxerit ista Tages." Elex^^sic omina Tuscus
Involvens multaque tegens arabage canebat.
At Figulus, cui cura deos secretaque caeli
Nosse fiiit, quem non stellarum Aegyptia Memphis
Aequaret visu numerisque sequentibus^ astra, 640

" Aut hie errat " ait " nulla cum lege per aevum

^ sequentibus Bentley : moventibus MSS.

* Nigidius Figulus, a learned Roman, described by Heitland
as " a living encyclopaedia of errors."

48

BOOK I

rite, Arruns turned pale and snatched up the entrails,
to seek there the anger of the gods. Their very
colour alarmed him : the sickly organs were marked
with malignant spots, coloured with congealed gore,
and chequered all over with dark patches and blood-
spots. He saw the liver flabby with corruption and
with boding streaks in its hostile half. The ex-
tremity of the panting lung is invisible, and a puny
t~'i membrane divides the vital organs. The heart is
flattened, the entrails exude corrupted blood through
gaping cracks, and the caul reveals its hiding-place.
And lo! he sees a horror which never yet was seen
in a victim's entrails without mischief following : a
great second lobe is growing upon the lobe of the
liver ; one half droops sickly and flabby, while
the other throbs fast and drives the veins with
rapid beat. When thus he had grasped the pre-
diction of great disaster, " Scarce may I," he cried
aloud, " reveal to men's ears all the ills that the gods
are preparing. Not with mightiest Jupiter has this
my sacrifice found favour ; but the infernal gods have
entered into the body of the slaughtered bull.
What we fear is unspeakable ; but the sequel will be
worse tlian our fears. May the gods give a favour-
able turn to what we have witnessed ! May the
entrails prove false, and may the lore of our founder
Tages turn out a mere imposture ! " Thus the
Tuscan told the future, veiling it in obscurity and
hiding it with much ambiguity.
\ Figulus ^ also spoke, Figulus, whose study it was
' to know the gods and the secrets of the sky, Figulus,
whom not even Egyptian Memphis could match in
observation of the heavens and calculations that keep
pace with the stars. " Either," said he, " this

49

VOL. I. n

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Miindus, et incerto discurrunt sidera motu,

A lit, si fata movent, iirbi generique paratur

Humano mabura lues. Terraene dehiscent 645

Subsidentque urbes, an toilet fervidus aer

Temperiem ? s^g^tes tellus infida negabit ?

Onmis an effusis miseebitur unda venenis ?

Quod cladis genus, o superi, qua peste paratis

Saevitiam ? Extremi multorum tempus in unum 650

Convenere dies. Summo si frigida caelo

Stella nocens nigros Saturni accenderet ignes,

Deucalioneos fudisset Aquarius imbres,

Totaque diffuso latuisset in aequore tellus.

Si saevum radiis Nemeaeum, Phoebe, Leonem 656

Nunc premeres, toto fluerent incendia mundo

Succensusque tuis flagrasset curribus aether.

Hi cessant ignes. Tu, qui flagrante minacem

Scorpion incendis cauda chelasque peruris,

Quid tantum, Gradive, paras ? nam mitis in alto 660

luppiter occasu premitur, Venerisque salubre

Sidus lifibet, motuque celer Cyllenius haeret,

Et caelum Mars solus habet. Cur signa meatus

Deseruere suos mundoque obscura feruntur,

Ensiferi nimium fulget latus Orionis ? 665

Inminet arniorum rabies, ferrique potestas

Confundet ius omne manu, scelerique nefando

Nomen erit virtus, multosque exibit in annos

Hie furor. Et superos quid prodest poscere finem ?

Cum domino pax ista venit. Due, Roma, malorum 670

^ Their horoscopes told him that a great number of men,
born on different dates, were to die at the same time.

50

= • BOOK I

universe strays for ever governed by no law, and the
stars move to and fro with course unfixed ; or else,
if they are guided by destiny, speedy destruction is
preparing for Rome and for mankind. Will the earth
gape and cities be swallowed up ? Or will burning
heat destroy our temperate clime ? Will the soil
break faith and deny its produce ? Or will water
everywhere be tainted with streams of poison ?
What kind of disaster are the gods preparing ?
What form of ruin will their anger assume? The
lives ot" multitudes are doomed to end together.^ If
Saturn, that cold baleful planet, were now kindling
his black fires in the zenith, then Aquarius would
have poured down such rains as Deucalion saw, and
the whole earth would have been hidden under the
waste of waters. Or if the sun's rays were now
passing over the fierce Lion of Nemea, then fire
would stream over all the world, and the upper air
would be kindled and consumed by the sun's chariot.
Tliese heavenly bodies are not active now. But
Mars — what dreadful purpose has he, when he
kindles the Scorpion menacing with fiery tail and
scorches its claws ? For the benign star of Jupiter
is hidden deep in the West, the healthful planet
Venus is dim, and Mercury's swift motion is stayed ;
Mars alone lords it in heaven. Why have the con-
stellations fled from their courses, to move darkling
through the sky, while the side of sword-girt Orion
shines all too bri*:;ht ? The madness of war is upon
us, when the power of the sword shall violently
upset all legality, and atrocious crime shall be called
heroism. This frenzy will last for many years ; and
it is useless to pray Heaven that it may end : when
peace comes, a tyrant will come with it. Let Rome

51

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Continuam seriem clademque in tempora multa
Extrahe, civili tantum iam libera bello."

Terruerant satis haec pavidam praesagia plebem ;
Sed maiora premunt. Nam qualis vertice Pindi
Edonis Ogygio decurrit plena Lyaeo, 675

Talis et attonitam rapitur niatrona per urbem
Vocibus his prodens iirguentem pectora Phoebum :
" Quo feror^ o Paean ? qua me super aetliera raptam
Constituis terra ? video Pangaea nivosis
Cana iiigis latosque Haemi sub rupe Pliilippos. 680

Quis furor hie, o Phoebe, doce, quo tela manusque
Romanae miscent acies, bellumque sine hoste est?
Quo diversa feror ? primos me ducis in ortus,
Qua mare Lagei mutatur gurgite Nili :
Hunc ego, fluminea deformis truncus harena 685

Qui iacet, agnosco. Dubiam super aequora Syrtim
Arentemque feror Libyen, quo tristis Enyo
Transtulit Emathias acies. Nunc desuper Alpis
Nubiferae colles atque aeriam Pyrenen
Abripimur. Patriae sedes remeamus in urbis, 690

Inpiaque in medio peraguntur bella senatu.
Consurgunt partes iterum, totumque per orbem
Rursus eo. Nova da mihi cernere litora ponti
Telluremque novam ; vidi iam, Phoebe, Philippos."
Haec ait, et lasso iacuit deserta furore. 695

* She means Pharsalia ; but it is a convention with the
Roman poets, from Virgil onwards, to speak of Pharsalia and
riiilippi as fought on the same ground : see 1. 694.

2 Pompey.

^ She has a vision of: (1) Pharsalia, fought in 48 B.C. ;
(2) Thapsus (46) ; (3) Munda (45) ; (4) the murder of Caesar

52

BOOK 1

prolong the unbroken series of suffering and draw
out her agony for ages : only while civil war lasts,
shall she henceforth be free."

These forebodings were enough to alarm and
terrify the populace ; but worse was close at hand .
For, as a Bacchanal, filled with Theban Lyaeus,
speeds down from the summit of Pindus, in such
guise a matron rushed through the appalled city,
revealing by these cries the pressure of Phoebus
upon her bosom : " Whither am I borne, O Paean, in
haste across the sky ? In what land do you set my
feet ? I see Pangaeus white with snow-clad ridges,
I see Philippi ^ spread out beneath the crag of
Haemus : say, Plioebus, what madness is this that
drives Romans to fight Romans; what war is this
without a foe ? Whither next am I borne to a
different quarter? You take me to the far East,
where the waters of Egyptian Nile stain the sea :
him 2 I recognise, that headless corpse lying on the
river sands. The grim goddess of war has shifted
the ranks of Pharsalia across the sea to treacherous
Syrtis and parched Libya : thither also am I carried.
Next I am spirited away over the cloud-capped Alps
and soaring Pyrenees. Back I return to my native
city, where the civil war finds its end in the very
Senate House. Again the factions raise their heads ;
again I make the circuit of the earth. Grant me,
Phoebus, to behold a different shore and a different
land : Philippi I have seen already." ^ So she spoke
and fell down, abandoned by the frenzy that now was
spent.

(44) ; (5) the later civil war, including the battle of
Philippi (42). " Philippi " again means Pharsalia.

53

BOOK II

LIBER SECUNDUS

Iamque irae patuere deum, manifestaque belli

Signa dedit mundus^ legesque et foedera rerum

Praescia monstrifero vertit natura tumultu

Indixitque nefas. Cur banc tibi, rector Olympi,

Solliqitis visum mortalibus addere curam, 5

Noscant venturas ut dira per omina clades?

Sive parens rerum, cum primum informia regna

Materiamque rudem flanima cedente recepit,

Fixit in aeternum causas, qua cuncta coercet

Se quoque lege tenens, et saecula iussa ferenteni 10

Fatorum inmoto divisit limite mundum ;

Sive nihil positum est sed fors incerta vagatur

P'ertque refertque vices, et habet mortalia casus :

Sit subitum, quodcumque paras ; sit caeca futuri

Mens hominum fati ; liceat sperare timenti. 15

Ergo, ubi concipiunt, quantis sit cladibus orbi
Constatura fides superum, ferale per urbem
lustitium; latuit plebeio tectus amictu
Omnis honos, nullos comitata est purpura fasces.
Tum questus tenuere sues, magnusque per omnes 20
Erravit sine voce dolor. Sic funere primo

1 According to the Stoics fire was the primal element.

2 The gods were truthful, because the portents they sent
were followed by disaster.

56

BOOK II

And now heaven's wrath was revealed ; the uni-
verse gave clear signs of battle ; and Nature,
conscious of the future, reversed the laws and
ordinances of life, and, while the hurly-burly bred
monsters, proclaimed civil war. Why didst thou.
Ruler of Olympus, see fit to lay on suffering mortals
this additional burden, that they should learn the
approach of calamity by awful portents ? Whether
the author of the universe, when the fire ^ gave place
and he first took in hand the shapeless realm of
raw matter, established the chain of causes for all
eternity, and bound himself as well by universal
law, and portioned out the universe, which endures
the ages prescribed for it, by a fixed line of destiny;
or whether nothing is ordained and Fortune, moving
at random, brings round the cycle of events, and
cimnce is master of mankind — in either case, let
thy purpose, whatever it be, be sudden ; let the
mind of man be blind to coming doom ; he fears,
but leave him hope.

Therefore, when men perceived the mighty
disasters which the truthfulness of the gods ^ would
cost the world, business ceased and gloom prevailed
throughout Rome ; the magistrates disguised them-
selves in the dress of the people; no purple accom-
panied the lictors' rods. Moreover, men restrained
their lamentations, and a deep dumb grief pervaded
the people. (So, at the moment of death a household

57

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Attonitae tacuere domus, cum corpora nondum

Conclamata iacent, nee mater crine solute

Exigit ad saevos famularum bracchia planctus,

Sed cum membra premit fugiente rigentia vita 26

Voltusque exanimes oculosque in morte minaces ;

Necdum est ille dolor, nee iam metus : incubat amens

Miraturque malum. Cultus matrona priores

Deposuit, maestaeque tenent delubra catervae.

Hae lacrimis sparsere deos, hae pectora duro. 30

Adflixere solo, lacerasque in limine sacro

Attonitae fudere comas votisque vocari

Adsuetas crebris feriunt ululatibus aures.

Nee cunetae summi templo iaeuere Tonantis :

Divisere deos, et nullis defuit aris 35

Invidiam factura parens. Quarum una madentes

Scissa genas, planetu liventes atra lacertos :

" Nunc " ait '' o miserae contundite pectora matres,

Nunc laniate comas neve hunc differte dolorem

Et summis servate mails. Nunc flere potestas, 40

Dum pendet fortuna ducum ; cum vicerit alter,

Gaudendum est." His se stimulis dolor ipse laeessit.

Nee non bella viri diversaque castra petentes

Effundunt iustas in numina saeva querellas.

" O miserae sortis, quod non in Punica nati 46 <

Tempora Cannarum fuimus Trebiaeque iuventus !

Non paeem petimus, superi : date gentibus iras,

58

BOOK II

is stunned and speechless^ before the body is lamented
and laid out, and before the mother with dishevelled
hair summons her maidens to beat their breasts
with cruel arms : she still embraces the limbs stiff
with the departure of life, and the inanimate
features, with eyes fierce in death. Fear she feels
no longer, but grief not yet : incapable of thought
she hangs over her son and marvels at her loss.)
The matrons put off their former garb and occupied
the temples in mournful companies. Some sprinkled
the images with their tears; others dashed their
breasts against the hard floor ; in their frenzy they
shed their torn locks over the consecrated threshold
and struck with repeated shrieks the ears accus-
tomed to be addressed with prayer. Nor did they
all prostrate themselves in the temple of the
supreme Thunderer : they parted the gods among
them, and no altar lacked a mother to call down
shame upon it. One of them, whose cheeks were
wet and torn, and her shoulders black and dis-
coloured by blows, spoke thus: '^ Now, wretched
mothers, now is the time to beat your breasts and
tear your hair. Do not delay your grief, nor keep
it for the crowning sorrows. 5s^ow we have power
to weep, while the destiny of the rival leaders is
undecided ; but, when either is victorious, we must
perforce rejoice" Thus grief works itself up and
fans its own Hame. — The men also, setting out for
the war and for the camps of the rivals, poured
out just complaints against the cruel gods : ''Wretched
is our lot, that we were not born into the age of the
Punic wars, that we were not the men who fought
at Cannae and the Trebia. We do not pray the
gods for peace : let tiiem put rage into foreign

59

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Nunc urbes excite feras ; coniuret in arma
Mundus^ Achaemeniis decurrant Medica Susis
Agmina, Massageten Scythicus non adliget Hister,
Fundat ab extremo flavos aquilone Suebos 61

Albis et indomitum Rheni caput ; omnibus hostes
Reddite nos populis : civile avertite bellum.
Hinc Dacus, premat inde Getes ; occurrat Hiberis
Alter^ ad Eoas hie vertat signa pharetras ; 65

Nulla vacet tibi, Roma, manus. Vel, perdere nomen
Si placet Hesperium, superi^ conlatus in ignes
Plurimus ad terram per fulmina decidat aether,
Saeve parens, utrasque simul partesque ducesque,
Dum nondum meruere, feri. Tantone novorum 60

Proventu scelerum quaerunt, uter imperet urbi ?
Vix tanti fuerat civilia bella movere,
Ut neuter." Tales pietas peritura querellas
Egerit. At miseros angit sua cura parentes,
Oderuntque gravis vivacia fata senectae 65

Servatosque iterum bellis civilibus annos.
Atque aliquis magno quaerens exempla timori
" Non alios " inquit " motus tunc fata parabant.
Cum post Teutonicos victor Libycosque triumphos
Exul limosa Marius caput abdidit ulva. 70

Stagna avidi texere soli laxaeque paludes
Depositum, Fortuna, tuum ; mox vincula ferri

^ Caesar. ^ Pompey.

3 " 'J'he failure of both " = freedom.

* Jiigurtha, King of Numidia. ^ At Minturnae.

M

BOOK II

nations and rouse up at once barbarian countries.
Let the whole world band itself together for war;
let armies of Medes swoop down from Persian
Susa ; let the northern Danube fail to bar the
Massagetae; let the Elbe and the unconquered
mouth of the Rhine send out swarms of fair-haired
Suebians from the uttermost North ; make us foes
to every nation — but let civil war pass from us I
Let the Dacians attack us on one side, the Getae on
the other; let one of the rivals^ confront the
Spaniards, and the other ^ turn his standards against
the quivers of the "East ; let every Roman hand
grasp a sword. Or, if it be heaven's purpose to
destroy the Roman race, let the mighty firmament
gather itself in flame and fall down on earth in
the shape of thunderbolts. O ruthless Author of
the universe, strike both parties and both rivals
at once with the same bolt, while they are still
innocent! Must they ])roduce such a monstrous
cro}) of crime, in order to settle which of the two
shall be master of Rome ? Civil war were a price
almost too high to pay for the failure of both." ^
Such were the complaints poured forth by patriotism
that was soon to pass away. Unhappy parents too
were tortured by a sorrow of their own : they curse
the prolongation of grievous old age, and lament
that they have lived to see a second civil war.
And tims spoke one of them who sought precedents
for his great fear: " As great were the disturbances
prepared by Fate, when victorious Marius, who had
trium})hed over the Teutones and the African,* was
driven out to hide his head in the miry sedge. ^
Engulfing quicksands and spongy marshes hid the
secret that Fortune had placed there ; and later

61

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Exedere senem longusque in carcere paedor.

Consul et eversa felix moriturus in urbe

Poenas ante dabat scelerum. Mors ipsa refugit 75

Saepe virum^ frustraque liosti concessa potestas

Sanguinis invisi, primo qui caedis in actu

Deriguit ferrumque manu torpente remisit.

Viderat inmensam tenebroso in carcere lucem

Terribilesque deos scelerum Mariumque futurum, 80

Audieratque pavens : ' Fas haec contingere non est

CoUa tibi ; debet multas hie legibus aevi

Ante suam mortes ; vanum depone furorem.'

Si libet ulcisci deletae funera gentis,

Hunc, Cimbri, servate senem. Non ille favore 85

Numinis, ingenti superum protectus ab ira,

Vir ferus et Romam cupienti perdere fate

Surticiens. Idem pelago delatus iniquo

Hostilem in terram vacuisque mapalibus actus

Nuda triumphati iacuit per regna lugurthae 90

Et Poenos pressit cineres. Solacia fati

Carthago Mariusque tuUt, pariterque iacentes

Ignovere deis. Libycas ibi colligit iras.

Ut primum fortuna redit, servilia solvit

Agniina, conflato saevas ergastula ferro 95

Exeruere manus. Nulli gestanda dabantur

Signa ducis, nisi qui scelerum iam fecerat usum

^ The lictor in the dungeon was a Cimbrian.

* Africa. ' I.e. each from the other's plight.

62

BOOK II

the old man's flesh was corroded by iron fetters
and the squalor of long captivity. He was yet
to die as Fortune's favourite, as consul in Rome
which he had ruined ; but first he suffered for
his guilt. Death itself often fled from him. When
power to take his hated life was granted to a
foeman, naught came of it ; for, in beginning the
deed of slaughter, the man was palsied and let
the sword slip AOm his strengthless hand. A great
light shone in the prison darkness; he saw the
awful deities that wait on crime, and he saw
Marius as he was yet to be ; and he heard a
dreadful voice — ' You are not permitted to touch
that neck. Before he dies himself, Marius must,
by the laws that govern the ages, bring death to
many. Lay aside your useless rage.' If the Cimbri ^
wish to avenge the extinction of their slaughtered
^1 race, they should let the old man live. No divine
favour, but the exceeding wrath of heaven, has
guarded the life of that man of blood, in whom
Fortune finds a perfect instrument for the destruction
of Rome. — Next he was conveyed over an angry sea
to a hostile soil,^ where he was chased through
deserted villages ; he couched down in the devas-
tated realmof Jugurtha who had graced his triumph,
and the ashes of Carthage were his bed. Carthage
and Marius both drew consolation for their destiny ^ ;
both alike prostrate, they pardoned Heaven. In
Africa he nursed a hate like Hannibal's. As soon
as Fortune smiled again, he set free bands of slaves ;
the prisoners melted down their fetters and stretched
forth their hands for slaughter. He suffered none
to bear his standards, except men already inured
to crime, men who brought guilt with them to the

63

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Adtuleratque in castra nefas. Pro fata ! quis ille,

Quis fuit ille dies, Marius quo moenia victor

Corripuit, quantoque gradu mors saeva cucurrit ! 100

Nobilitas cum plebe parity lateque vagatus

Ensis, et a nullo revocatum pectore ferrum.

Stat cruor in templis, multaque rubentia caede

Lubrica saxa madent. Nulli sua profuit aetas :

Non seiiis extremum piguit vergentibus annis 105

Praecepisse diem, nee primo in limi.^^ vitae

Infantis miseri nascentia rumpere fata.

Crimine quo parvi caedem potuere mereri ?

Sed satis est iam posse mori. Trahit ipse furoris

Impetus, et visum lenti, quaesisse nocentem. 110

In numerum pars magna perit, rapuitque cruentus

Victor ab ignota voltus cervice recisos,

Dum vacua pudet ire manu. Spes una salutis

Oscula pollutae fixisse trementia dextrae.

Mille licet gladii mortis nova signa sequantur, 115

Degener o populus, vix saecula longa decorum

Sic meruisse viris, nedum breve dedecus aevi

Et vitam dum Sulla redit. Cui funera volgi

Flere vacet ? vix te sparsum per viscera, Baebi,

Innumeras inter carpentis membra coronae 120

Discessisse manus ; aut te, praesage malorum

Antoni, cuius laceris pendentia canis

Ora ferens miles festae rorantia mensae

Inposuit. Truncos laceravit Fimbria Crassos ;

Saeva tribunicio maduerunt robora tabo. 125

^ The hand of Marina.

2 The poles on which the heads of the tribunes were carried
seem to be meant.

64

' BOOK II

camp. Shame upon Fate ! How dread that day,
the day when victorious Marius seized the city !
With what mighty strides cruel death stalked
abroad ! High and low were slain alike ; the sword
strayed far and wide ; and no breast was spared
the steel. Pools of blood stood in the temples ;
constant carnage wetted the red and slippery
pavement. None was protected by his age : the
slayer did not scruple to anticipate the last day
of declining age^ or to cut short the early prime of
a hapless infant in the dawn of life. How was it
possible that children should deserve death for any
crime ? But it was enough to have already a life
to lose. The violence of frenzy was itself an in-
centive ; and it was deemed the part of a laggard
to look for guilt in a victim. Many were slain
merely to make up a number; and the bloodstained
conqueror seized a head cut off from a stranger's
shoulders, because he was ashamed to walk with
empty hands. Those alone were spared who pressed
their trembling lips on that polluted hand.^ How
degenerate a people ! Though a thousand swords
obey this new signal of death, it scarce would befit
brave men to buy centuries of life so dear, far less
the short and shameful respite — till Sulla returns.
None could find time to lament the deaths of the
multitude, and hardly to tell how Baebius was torn
asunder and scattered piecemeal by the countless
hands of the mob that divided limb from limb;
or how the head of Antonius, prophet of evil, was
swung by the torn white hair and placed dripping
by a soldier upon the festal board. The Crassi
were mutilated and mangled by Fimbria ; and the
blood of tribunes wetted the cruel wood.^ Scaevola

65

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Te quoque neglectum violatae, Scaevola, Vestae

Ante ipsum penetrale deae semperque calentes

Mactavere focos ; parvum sed fessa senectus

Sanguinis effudit iugulo flammisque pepercit.

Septimus haec sequitur repetitis fascibus annus. 130

Hie fuit vitae Mario modus, omnia passo

Quae peior fortuna potest, atque omnibus use

Quae melior, mensoque hominis quid fata paterent.

lam quot apud Sacri cecidere cadavera Portum,

Aut Collina tulit stratas quot porta catervas, 135

Tum cum paene caput mundi rerumque potestas

Mutavit translata locum, Romanaque Samnis

Ultra Caudinas speravit volnera Furcas.

Sulla quoque inmensis accessit cladibus ultor.

Ille quod exiguum restabat sanguinis urbi 140

Hausit ; dumque nimis iam putria membra recidit,

Excessit medicina modum, nimiumque secuta est.

Qua morbi duxere, manus. Periere nocentes,

Sed cum iam soli possent superesse nocentes.

Tunc data libertas odiis, resolutaque legum 145

Frenis ira ruit. Non uni cuncta dabantur,

Sed fecit sibi quisque nefas ; semel omnia victor

lusserat. Infandum domini per viscera ferrum

Exegit famulus ; nati maduere paterno

Sanguine ; certatum est, cui cervix caesa parentis 150

' The Samnite general, Telesinus, had threatened to raze
Rome to the ground, and make another city the capital of
Italy.

66

BOOK II

too found no protection from outraged Vesta : they
sacrificed the old man before the very shrine
and ever-burning hearth of the goddess, but the
scanty stream of blood that issued from his aged
throat suffered the fire to burn on. These things
were followed by the seventh year in which Marius
resumed the rods of office. And that was the end
of his life : he had suffered every blow that evil
fortune can inflict, and enjoyed every gift that
good fortune can bestow ; he had measured the full
extent of human destiny. — Again, how many corpses
fell at Sacriportus ! What heaps of slain encumbered
the Colline Gate on that day when the capital of
the world and the government of mankind was
nearly transferred to a different seat,^ and the
Samnites hoped to inflict on Rome a heavier blow
than the Caudine Forks ! And then, to crown the
infinite slaughter, came Sulla's vengeance. What
little blood was left at Rome he shed; and while he
lopped off too fiercely the limbs that were corrupt,
his surgery went beyond all bounds, and his knife
followed too far on the path whither disease invited
it. The men slain were guilty, but it was a time
when there were none but guilty to survive. Licence
was granted then to private hatred ; and anger,
freed from the curb of law, rushed headlong on.
The deeds done were not all done for the sake
of one man ; but each committed outrage to please
himself. The conqueror had once for all issued his
orders which included every crime. The servant
drove the accursed sword to the hilt through his
master's body ; sons were sprinkled with their
father's blood and strove with each other for the
privilege of beheading a parent; and brother slew

67

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Cederet ; in fratrum ceciderunt praemia fratres.

Busta repleta fuga, permixtaque viva sepultis

Corpora, nee populum latebrae cepere ferarum.

Hie laqueo fauees elisaque guttura fregit.

Hie se praecipiti iaculatus pondere dura 155

Dissiluit percussus humo, mortesque cruento

Victori rapuere suas ; hie robora busti

Exstruit ipse sui necdum omni sanguine fuse

Desilitin flammas at, dum lieet, occupat ignes.

Colla ducum pilo trepidam gestata per urbem ICO

Et medio congesta foro; cognoscitur illie,

Quidquid ubique iaeet. Scelerum non Thracia tantum

Vidit Bistonii stabulis pendere tyranni,

Postibus Antaei Libya, nee Graecia maerens

Tot laceros artus Pisaea flevit in aula. 165

Cum iam tabe fluunt confusaque tempore multo

Amisere notas, miserorum dextra parentum

Colligit et pavido sul)dueit eognita furto.

Meque ipsum memini eaesi deformia fratris

Ora rogo cupidum vetitisque inponere flammis 170

Omnia Sullanae lustrasse cadavera paeis,

Perque omnes truncos, eum qua eervice recisum

Conveniat, quaesisse, caput. Quid sanguine manes

Placatos Catuli referam ? eum victima tristes

Inferias Marius forsan nolentibus umbris 175

Pendit inexpleto non fanda piaeula busto,

Cum laeeros artus aequataque volnera membris

Vidimus, et toto quamvis in eorpore eaeso

I

1 Diomedes, a mythical king, killed by Hercules. For
Antaeus, see iv. 593 foil. The "court-yard of Pisa" refers to
Oenomaus, who killed his daughter's suitors.

2 M. Marius Gratidianus, who was only by adoption a
member of the Marian family.
68

-y BOOK ir

brother to earn rewards. The tombs were filled
with fugitives, and the bodies of the living consorted
with buried corpses ; and the lairs of wild beasts
were crowded with men. One man tied a noose
round his throat and broke his neck ; another hurled
himself down headlong and was dashed to pieces
asfainst the hard ground ; and thus they robbed the
bloodstained conqueror of their deaths. Another
piled up wood for his own pyre, and then, before all
his blood had run out, sprang down into the flame
and made haste to burn himself before he was
prevented. The heads of the chief men were borne
on pikes through the terrified city and piled in the
centre of the forum ; the victims slaughtered in all
places were displayed there. Thrace never saw so
many murdered corpses in the stables of the Bistonian
king,^ nor Africa at the doors of Antaeus ; nor did
mourning Greece lament so many mutilated bodies
in the courtyard of Pisa. When the heads, dis-
solving in corruption and effaced by lapse of time,
had lost all distinctive features, their wretched
parents gathered the relics they recognised and
stealthily removed them. I remember how I my-
self, seeking to place on the funeral fire denied
them the shapeless features of my murdered brother,
scrutinised all the corpses slain by Sulla's peace :
round all the headless bodies I went, seeking for
a neck to fit the severed head. Why tell of the
bloody atonement made to the ghost of Catulus ?
A Marius ^ was the victim who paid that terrible
offering, perhaps distasteful to the dead himself,
that unspeakable sacrifice to the insatiate tomb.
We saw his mangled frame with a wound for every
limb ; we saw every part of the body mutilated

69

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Nil animae letale datum moremque nefandae

Dirum saevitiae, pereuntis parcere raorti. 180

Avolsae cecidere manus, exsectaque lingua

Palpitat et muto vacuum ferit aera motu.

Hie aures, alius spiramina naris aduncae

Amputat ; ille cavis evolvit sedibus orbes,

Ultimaque etfodit spectatis lumina membris. T86

Vix erit uUa fides tain saevi criminis, unum

Tot poenas cepisse caput. Sic mole ruinae

Fracta sub ingenti miscentur pondere membra.

Nee magis informes veniunt ad litora trunci.

Qui medio periere freto. Quid perdere fructura 190

luvit et, ut vilem, Marii confundere voltum ?

Ut seel us hoc Sullae caedesque ostensa placeret,

Agnoscendus erat. Vidit Fortuna colonos

Praenestina suos cunctos simul ense recepto

Unius populum pereuntem tempore mortis. 196

Tum flos Hesperiae, Latii iam sola iuventus,

Concidit et miserae maculavit Ovilia Romae.

Tot simul infesto iuvenes occumbere leto

Saepe fames pelagique furor subitaeque ruinae

Aut terrae caelique lues aut bellica clades, 200

Numquam poena fuit. Densi vix agmina volgi

Inter et exsangues inmissa morte catervas

Victores movere manus ; vix caede peracta

Procumbunt, dubiaque labant cervice ; sed illos

^ The worsliip of Fortuna was of great importance at
Praeneste.

^ An enclosed space in the Campus Martius where polling
took place. See u, to vii, 306,

70

k

BOOK II

and yet no death-stroke dealt to the life ; we saw
the terrible form taken by savage cruelty, of not
suffering the dying to die. The arms, wrenched
from the shoulders, fell to the ground ; the tongue,
cut out, quivered and beat the empty air with
dumb motion ; one man cut off the ears, another
the nostrils of the curved nose ; a third pushed
the eye-balls from their hollow sockets and scooped
the eyes out last of all when they had witnessed
the fate of the limbs. Few will believe such an
atrocity, or that a single frame could be large enough
for so many tortures. Such are men's limbs when
broken and pounded under the huge weight of a
fallen building ; and the dead, who have perished
in mid-ocean and drifted to the shore, are not more
disfigured. What made them waste their advantage
and obliterate the features of Marius, as if they
were of no account ? They ought to have been
recognisable ; then the crime would find favour
with Sulla and the murder would be proved. . The
Fortune of Praeneste ^ saw all her citizens put to
the sword together, and her population slain In
the time it takes one man to die. The flower of
Italy also, the only Roman soldiers left, were
slaughtered and stained with their blood the
Sheepfold ^ of Rome. The violent death of so many
strong men at once has often been caused by famine,
or stormy sea, or sudden crash of buildings, or
plague of earth and sky, or havoc of war, but never
before by execution. So thick was the crowd of
men, of faces that grew pale when death was let
loose upon them, that the conquerors could scarce
ply their weapons : even when the slaughter was
done, the dead could scarce fall down but swayed with

71

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Magna premit strages, peraguntque cadavera partem

Caedis : viva graves elidunt corpora trunci. 206

Intrepidus tanti sedit securus ab alto

Spectator sceleris ; miseri tot milia volgi

Non timuit iussisse mori. Congesta recepit

Omnia Tjirhenus Sullana cadavera gurges ; 210

In fluvium primi cecidere^ in corpora summi.

Praecipites haesere rates, et strage cruenta

Interruptiis aquae fluxit prior amnis in aequor,

Ad molem stetit unda sequens. lam sanguinis alti

Vis sibi fecit iter, campumque effusa per omneia 215

Praecipitique ruens Tiberina in flumina rivo

Haerentes adiuvit aquas ; nee iam alveus amnem

Nee retinent ripae, redditque cadavera campo.

Tandem Tyrrhenas vix eluctatus in undas

Sanguine caeruleum torrenti dividit aequor. 22C

Plisne salus rerum, felix his Sulla vocari.

His meruit tumulum medio sibi tollere Campo?

Haec rursus patienda manent, hoc ordine belli

Ibitur, hie stabit civilibus exitus armis.

Quamquam agitant graviora metus, multumque coitur

Humani generis maiore in proelia dam no. 226

Exulibus Mariis bellorum maxima merces

Roma recepta fuit, nee plus victoria Sullae

P^-aestitit iijyisas penitus quam tollere partes :

.•tol iHH (lh>^h

^p.„V The Tiber.
. * Sulla added the surname Felix to his original name.

72

BOOK II

drooping necks ; and the survivors were wefj^hed
down by the heaps of corpses ; for tlie dead took
their share in dealing death, and the living were
crushed by the weight of the slain. Without a
qualm Sulla sat at ease to witness the awful deed
from his lofty seat ; he feared . not to pass sentence
of death on so many thousands of undistinguished
wretches. The bodies of Sulla's victims were all
piled up and thrown into the Etruscan river ; ^ the
first of them fell upon the water, the last upon other
carcasses. Ships going down the stream stuck fast;
the front part of the river was cut off by the heaps
of dead and so flowed down to the sea, while the
part behind was blocked at the barrier. But soon
the river of blood made a way for itself: it flooded
all the plain ; it rushed in rapid channel to the
Tiber and swelled the impeded current, till its bed
and banks could not contain the stream ; and the
river brought the corpses back to land, and at last
forced its way with difficulty to the Tyrrhene sea,
where it parted the blue expanse with a torrent
of blood. Were these the deeds that entitled Sulla
to be called the saviour of his country and the
favourite of Fortune,^ and to rear himself a tomb
in the centre of the Campus ? Those same woes
we must endure again ; through that sequence of
warfare we must pass ; such is the issue appointed
to every civil war. And yet our fears forebode still
worse, and much greater damage to mankind will
come of this conflict in arms. To Marius and his
exiles the recovery of Rome was the great prize
- they fought for, and to Sulla victory brought no
tg, more than the extermination of the party he hated ;
but the rivals of to-day have long been supreme,

73

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Hos alio, Fortuna, vocas, olimque potentes 230

Concurrunt. Neuter civilia bella moveret,
Contentus quo Sulla fuit." Sic maesta seneotiis
Praeteritique memor flebat metuensque futuri.

At non magnanimi percussit pectora Bruti
Terror, et in tanta pavidi formidine motus 235

Pars populi lugentis erat ; sed nocte sopora,
Parrhasis obliquos Helice cum verteret axes,
Atria cognati pulsat non ampla Catonis.
Invenit insomni volventem publica cura
Fata virum casusque urbis cunctisque timentem 240
Securumque sui, farique his vocibus orsus :
"Omnibus expulsae terris olimque fugatae
Virtutis iam sola fides, quam turbine nullo
Excutiet fortuna tibi, tu mente labantem
Derige me, dubium certo tu robore jfirma. 245

Namque alii Magnum vel Caesaris arma sequantur :
Dux Bruto Cato solus erit. Pacemne tueris
Inconcussa tenens dubio vestigia mundo ?
An placuit ducibus scelerum populique furentis
Cladibus inmixtum civile absolvere bellum ? 250

Quemque suae rapiunt scelerata in proelia causae :
Hos polluta donius legesque in pace timendae,
Hos ferro fugienda fames mundique ruinae
Permiscenda fides. Nullum furor egit in arma :
Castra petunt magna victi mercede ; tibi uni 265

Per se bella placent ? quid tot durare per annos

^ Helice, or Callisto, is a common name in the poets for the
Great Bear.

74

BOOK II

and they are summoned by destiny to a different
goal. If either were content with what satisfied
Sulla, he would not stir up civil war." Such were
the laments of sorrowing elders, as they recalled the
past and dreaded the future.

But the heart of noble Brutus was shaken by no
fear, and amid that mighty dread of awful change he
was not one of the mourning populace. In the
slumbrous night, when Arcadian Helice ^ was turning
her wain aslant, he knocked at the humble dwelling
of his kinsman, Cato. He found the great man
pondering in sleepless anxiety over the destiny of
the nation and the plight of Rome, careless of his
own safety but fearful for mankind ; and thus he
addressed him : " Virtue, long ago driven out and
banished from every land, finds in you her one
remaining support, and will never be dislodged from
your breast by any turn of fortune ; do you there-
fore guide my hesitation and fortify my weakness
with your unerring strength. Let others follow
Magnus or Caesar's arms — Brutus will own no leader
but Cato. Are you the champion of peace, keeping
your path unshaken amid a tottering world ? Or
have you resolved to stand with the arch-criminals
and take your share in the disasters of a mad world,
and so clear the civil war of guilt ? Each man is
carried away to wicked warfare by motives of his
own — some by crimes of private life and fear of the
laws if peace be kept ; others by the need to drive
away hunger by the sword and to bury bankruptcy
under the destruction of the world. None has been
driven to arms by mere impulse : they have been
bought by a great bribe to follow the camp ; do you
alone choose war for its own sake ? What good was

75

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Profuit inmunem corrupt! moribus aevi ?

Hoc solum longae pretium virtutis habebis :

Accipient alios, facient te bella nocentem.

Ne tantum, o superi, liceat feralibus armis, 260

Has etiam movisse manus. Nee pila lacertis

Missa tuis caeca telorum in nube ferentur :

Ne tanta incassum virtus eat, ingeret omnis

Se belli fortuiia tibi. Quis nolet in isto

Ense mori, quamvis alieno volnere labens, 265

Et scelus esse tuum ? Melius tranquilla sine armis

Otia solus ages ; sicut caelestia semper

Inconcussa suo volvuntur sidera lapsu.

Fulminibus propior terrae succenditur aer,

Imaque telluris ventos tractusque coruscos 270

Flaminarum accipiunt : nubes excedit Olympus.

Lege deum minimas rerum discordia turbat,

Pacem magna tenent. Quam laetae Caesaris aures

Accipient tantum venisse in proelia civem !

Nam praelata suis numquam diversa dolebit 275

Castra ducis Magni ; nimium placet ipse Gitoni,

Si bellum civile placet. Pars magna senatus

Et duce privato gesturus proelia consul

Sollicitant proceresque alii ; quibus adde Catonem

Sub iuga Pompei, toto iam liber in orbe 280

Solus Caesar erit. Quod si pro legibus arma

Ferre iuvat patriis libertatemque tueri.

Nunc neque Pompei Brutum neque Caesaris hostem,

* Poiiipey, who then held no magistracy.
76

Lk

BOOK II

it to stand firm so many years, untouched by the
vices of a profligate age ? Ttiis will be your sole
reward for the virtue of a lifetime - that war,
which finds others already guilty, will make you
guilty at last. Heaven forbid that this fatal strife
should have power to stir your hands also to
action. Javelins launched by your arm will not
hurtle through the indistinguishable cloud of missiles ;
and, in order that all that virtue may not spend
itself in vain, all the hazard of war will hurl itself
upon you; for who, th-ough staggering beneath an-
other's stroke, will not wish to fall by your sword
and make you guilty ? Fitter than war for you is
peaceful life and tranquil solitude; so the stars of
heaven roll on for ever unshaken in their courses.
Tiie part of air nearest earth is fired by thunder-
bolts, and the low-lying places of the world are
visited by gales and long flashes of flame ; but
Olympus rises above the clouds. It is heaven's law,
that small things are troubled and distracted, while
great things enjoy peace. What joyful news to
Caesar's ear, that so great a citizen has joined the
fray ! He will never resent your preference of his
rival, of Pompey's camp to his own ; for, if Cato
countenances civil war, he countenances Caesar also
more than enough. When half the Senate, when
the consuls and other nobles, mean to wage war
under a leader who holds no office,^ the temptation
is strong ; but, if Cato too submit like these to
Pompey, Caesar will be the only free man left on
earth. If, however, we resolve to bear arms in
defence of our country's laws and to maintain
freedom, you behold in me one who is not now the
foe of either Caesar or Pompey, though I shall be

77

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Post bellum victoris habes." Sic fatur ; at illi

Arcano sacras reddit Cato pectore voces : 28j

" Summunij Brute, nefas civilia bella fatemur;

Sed quo fata trahunt, virtus secura sequetur.

Crimen erit superis et me fecisse nocentem.

Sidera quis munduraque velit spectare cadentem

Expers ipse metus ? quis, cum ruat arduus aether, 29(

Terra labet mixto coeuntis pondere mundi,

Compressas tenuisse manus ? gentesne furorem

Hesperium ignotae Romauaque bella sequentur

Diduclique fretis alio sub sidere reges,

Otia solus agam ? procul hunc arcete furorem, 29i

O superi, motura Dahas ut clade Getasque

Securo me Roma cadat. Ceu morte parentem

Natorum orbatum longum producere funus

Ad tumulos iubet ipse dolor, iuvat ignibus atris

Inseruisse manus constructoque aggere busti 30(

Ipsum atras tenuisse faces, non ante revellar,

Exanimem quam te conplectar, Roma ; tuumque

Nomen, Libertas, et inanem prosequar umbram.

Sic eat : inmites Romana piacula divi

Plena ferant, nuUo fraudemus sanguine bellum. SOL

O utinam caelique dels Erebique liceret

Hoc caput in cunctas damnatum exponere poenas !

Devotum hostiles Decium pressere catervae :

Me geminae figant acies, me barbara telis

Rheni turba petat, cunctis ego pervius hastis 31C

1 This promise was made good when Brutus stabbed Caesar.

78

BOOK II

the foe of the conqueror when war is over."^ So
Brutus spoke, and Cato from the sacred shrine of
his heart made this reply : " Brutus, I allow that
civil war is the worst wickedness ; but V^irtue will
follow fearless wherever destiny summons her. It
will be a reproach to the gods, that they have made
even me guilty. VVHio would choose to watch the
starry vault falling down and to feel no fear himself?
or to sit with folded hands, when high heaven
was crashing down and earth shaking with the
confused weight of a collapsing firmament? If
nations unknown, if kings who reign in another
clime beyond the seas, join the madness of Italy
and the standards of Rome, shall I alone dwell in
peace? Heaven keep far from me this madness,
that the fall of Rome, which will stir by her disaster
the Dahae and the Getae, should leave me in-
different! When a father is robbed of his sons by
death, grief itself bids him lead the long funeral
train to the grave ; he is fain to thrust his hands into
the doleful fires, and himself to hold the smoky
torch where the lofty pyre rises. So never shall
I be torn away before 1 embrace the lifeless body
of my country ; and I will follow to the grave the
mere name and empty ghost of Freedom. So be it !
Let Rome pay atonement in full to the pitiless
gods, and let no man's life be denied to the claim
of war ! But would it were possible for me, con-
demned by the powers of heaven and hell, to be
the scapegoat for the nation ! As hordes of foemen
bore down Decius when he had offered his life, so
may both armies pierce this body, may the savages
from the Rhine aim their weapons at me ; may I be
transfixed by every spear, and may 1 stand between

79

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Excipiam medius totius volnera belli.

Hie redimat sanguis populos, hae caede luatur,

Quidquid Romani meruerunt pendere mores.

Ad iuga cur fijiciles populi, eur saeva volentes

Regna pati pereunt? me solum invadite ferro, 31f

Me frustra leges et inania iura tuentem.

Hie dabit, bic pacem iugulus finemque malorum

Gentibus Hesperiis: post me regnare volenti

Non opus est bello. Quin publica signa ducemque

Pompeium sequimur? nee, si fortuna favebit, 320

Hunc quoque totius sibi ius promittere mundi

Non bene conpertum est: ideo me milite vincat,

Ne sibi se vicisse putet." Sic fatur^ et acres

Irarum movit stimulos iuvenisque calorem

Excitat in nimios belli civilis amores. 325

Interea Phoebo gelidas pellente tenebras
Pulsatae sonuere fores, quas saucta relictO'
Hortensi maerens inrupit Marcia busto.
Quondam virgo toris melioris iuncta mariti,
Mox ubi conubii pretium mercesque soluta est 330

Tertia iam suboles, alios fecunda penates
Inpletura datur geminas et sanguine matris
Permixtura domos. Sed postquam condidit urna
Supremos cineres, miserando concita voltu,
Eirusas laniata comas contusaque pectus 335

Verberibus crebris cineresque ingesta sepulchri,

^ Cato, who transferred her later to Horteiisiua.
8o

BOOK II

and intercept every blow dealt in this war ! Let
my blood redeem the nations, and my death
pay the whole penalty incurred by the corruption
of Rome. If the nations are willing to bear the
yoke and resent not harsh tyranny, why should they
die? Aim your swords at me alone, at me who
fight a losing battle for despised law and justice.
My blood, mine only, will bring peace to the people
of Italy and end their sufferings ; the would-be
tyrant need wage no war, once I am gone. Why
should I not follow the standard of the nation and
Pompey as my leader ? And yet I know full well
that, if fortune favour him, he too looks forward to
mastery over the world. Let me then serve in his
victorious army, and prevent him from thinking that
he has conquered for himself alone." Thus Cato
spoke, filling the younger man with strong incen-
tives to battle and prompting his high spirit to
excessive desire for civil war.

Meanwhile the sun was dispelling chilly night,
when a loud knocking was heard at the door, and
in rushed the matron, Marcia, mourning for Hor-
tensius whose pyre she had just left. As a
maiden she had first been wedded to a nobler
husband ; ^ then, when she had received the reward
and fee of wedlock in the birth of a third child, she
was given to another household, to populate it with
her fruitfulness and to ally the two houses by the
maternal blood. But now, when she had laid the
ashes of Hortensius in their final urn, she hastened
hither in piteous guise : torn and disordered was
her hair, and her breast bruised with repeated
blows ; she was covered with the funeral ashes.
Not otherwise could she have found favour with

8i

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Non aliter placitura viro, sic maesta profatur :

" Dum sanguis inerat, dum vis materna, peregi

lussa, Cato, et geminos excepi feta maritos ;

Visceribus lassis partuque exiiausta reverter 340

lam nulli tradenda viro. Da foedera prisci

Inlibata tori, da tantum nomen inane

Conubii ; liceat tumulo scripsisse : ' Catonis

Marcia' ; nee dubium longo quaeratur in aevo,

Mutarim primas expulsa, an tradita, taedas. 345

Non me laetorum sociam rebusque secundis

Accipis : in curas venio partemque laborum.

Da mihi castra sequi. Cur tuta in pace relinquar,

Et sit civili propior Cornelia bello ? "

Hae flexere virum voces, et tempora quamquam
Sint alienia toris, iara fato in bella vocante, 351

Foedera sola tamen vanaque carentia pompa
lura placent sacrisque deos admittere testes.
Festa coronato non pendent limine serta,
Infulaque in geminos discurrit Candida postes, 355

Legitimaeque faces, gradibusque adciinis eburnis
Stat torus et pic to vestes discriminat auro,
Turritaque premens frontem matrona corona
Translata vitat contingere limina planta ;
Non timidum nuptae leviter tectura pudorem 360

Lutea demissos velarunt flammea voltus,
Balteus aut fluxos gemmis astrinxit araictus,
CoUa monile decent, umerisque haerentia primis

^ The wife of Pompey.

2 "The marriage takes 22 lines, 17 of which describe the
usages dispensed with by the pair, 3 those complied with ;
2 are introductory " (Heitland's Iniroduction, p. Ixxii).

82

BOOK I J ?/.

Cato. And thus she spoke sorrowing: ** While
there was warm blood in these veins and 1 had
power to be a mother, I did your bidding, Cato : I
took two husbands and bore them children. Now
I return wearied and worn-out with child-bearing,
and I must not again be surrendered to any other
husband. Grant me to renew the faithful compact
of my first marriage ; grant me only the name of
wife ; suffer men to write on my tomb, ^ Marcia, wife
of Cato ' ; let not the question be disputed in after
time, whether I was driven out or handed over by
you to a second husband. You do not receive me
to share in happiness or for prosperous times : I
come to take my part in anxiety and trouble.
Suffer me to follow the camp. Why should I be
left behind in peace and safety, and be kept further
away than Cornelia ^ from civil war ? "

Her words moved her husband. Though the time
when Fate called men to arms was ill-suited for a
marriage, they resolved to tie the knot simply and
perform the rite with no useless display ; the gods
alone should be present to witness the ceremony.^
No festal garlands, no wreath, hung from the
lintel ; no white fillet ran this way and that to
each post of the door. The customary torches ;
the high couch supported on ivory steps and dis-
playing a coverlet of gold embroidery ; the matron,
wearing on her head a towered crown, and careful
not to touch the threshold when her foot crosses
it — all these are absent. No saffron veil, intended
lightly to screen the bride's shy blushes, hid the
downcast face; no belt bound the flowing raiment
with jewels, no fair circlet confined the neck, nor
did a scarf, clinging to the tip of the shoulder,

«3

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Suppara nudatos cingunt angusta lacertos.
Sicut erat, maesti servat lugubria cultus,
Quoque modo natos, hoc est amplexa maritum.
Obsita funerea celatur purpura lana.
Non soliti lusere sales, nee more Sabino
Excepit tristis convicia festa maritus.
Pignora nulla domus, nulli coiere propinqui :
lunguntur taciti contentique auspice Bruto.
Ille nee horrificam sancto dimovit ab ore
Caesariem duroque admisit gaudia voltu, —
Ut primum tolli feralia viderat arma,
Intonsos rigidam in frontem descendere canos
Passus erat maestamque genis incrcscere barbam :
Uni quippe vacat studiis odiisque carenti
Humanum lugere genus — nee foedera prisci
Sunt tem[)tata tori ; iusto quoque robur amori
Restitit. Hi mores, haec duri inmota Catonis
Secta fuit, servare modum finemque tenere
Naturamque sequi patriaeque inpendere vitam
Nee sibi sed toti genitum se credere mundo.
Huic epulae, vicisse famem ; magnique penates,
Summovisse hiemem tecto ; pretiosaque vestis,
Hirtam membra super Romani more Quiritis
Induxisse togam ; Venerisque hie unicus^ usus.
Progenies ; urbi pater est urbique maritus,
lustitiae cultor, rigidi servator honesti, rr,. ^

unicus Bentley : maximus MS8.

1 This band went round the tunio.
84

BOOK n

■ surround the bare arms with narrow band. Marcia
made no change but kept the solemnity of her
widow's weeds, and embraced her husband just as
she did her sons. The purple band ^ was covered and
concealed by wool of funereal colour. The customary

"light jesting was silent, nor was the sullen husband
greeted by the ceremonial abuse in Sabine fashion.

. No members of the family and no kinsmen as-
sembled : their hands were joined in silence, and
they were satisfied with the presence of Brutus as

.' augur. The husband refused to remove the shaggy
growth from his reverend face ; nor did his
stern features grant access to joy. (Ever since he
saw the weapons of ill-omened war raised up, he
had sutTered the grey hair to grow long over his

? stern brow and the beard of the mourner to spread
over his face ; for he alone, free from love and
free from hate, had leisure to wear mourning
for mankind.) Nor did he seek to renew the
former relations with liis wife: that iron nature was
proof even against wedded love. Such was the

1 character, such the inflexible rule of austere Cato —
to observe moderation and hold fast to the limit,
to follow nature, to give his life for his country,
to believe that he was born to serve the whole

\i world and not himself. To him it was a feast to
banish hunger ; it was a lordly palace to fend off
hard weather with a roof over his head ; it was
fine raiment to draw over his limbs the rough toga
which is a Roman's dress in time of peace. In his
view the sole purpose of love was offspring; for
the State he became a husband and father; he
worshipped justice and practised uncompromising
virtue; he reserved his kindness for the whole

8s

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

111 coirimune bonus ; nullosque Catonis in actus 390

Subrepsit partemque tulit sibi nata voluptas.

Interea trepido descendens agmine Magnus
Moenia Dardanii tenuit Campana coloni.
Haec placuit belli sedes, hinc summa moventera
Hostis in occursum sparsas extendere partes, 395

Umbrosis mediam qua collibus Appenninus
Erigit Italiam, nuUoque a vertice tellus
Altius inturauit propiusque accessit Olympo,
Mons inter geminas medius se porrigit undas
Inferni superiqae maris, collesque coercent 400

Hinc Tyrrhena vado frangentes aequora Pisae,
Illinc Dalraaticis obnoxia fluctibus Ancon.
Fontibus hie vastis inmensos concipit amnes
Fluminaque in gemini spargit divortia ponti.
(In laevum cecidere latiis veloxque Metaurus 405

Crustumiumque rapax et iuncto Sapis Isauro
Senaque et Hadriacas qui verbevat Aufidus undas ;
Quoque magis nullum tellus se solvit in amnem,
Eridanus fractas devolvit in aequora silvas
Hesperiamque exhaurit aquis. Hunc fabula primum
Populea fluvium ripas umbrasse corona, 411

Cumque diem pronum transverso limite ducens
Succendit Phaethon flagrantibus aethera loris,
Gnrgitibus raptis penitus tellure perusta,
Hunc habuisse pares Phoebeis ignibus undas. 415

Non minor hie Nilo, si non per plana iacentis
Aegypti Libycas Nilus stagnaret harenas ;

1 Capua was believed to have been founded by the. Trojan
Cap3's.

■-* Also called the Tyrrhene and Adriatic seas.

^ Lucan's readers must have known that there were rivers

86

BOOK II

people ; and there was no act of Cato's life where
selfisli pleasure crept in and claimed a share.

Meanwhile Magnus marched away in haste and
occupied the Campanian walls founded by the
Trojan.^ Capua was chosen as the seat of war ; he
resolved to make Capua the base of his chief cam-
paign, and from there to disperse and extend his
forces in order to meet the enemy where Apennine
raises up the centre of Italy in wooded hills ; nor is
there any peak at which earth rises higher and
approaches closer to the sky. Midway between the
two seas, the Lower and the Upper,^ the mountains
stretch ; and the range is bounded on the west by Pisa,
where her beach breaks the Tyrrhene sea, and on the
east by Ancona, which faces the Dalmatian billows.
From vast springs the mountain engenders mighty
rivers and scatters their streams along the water-sheds
that lead to two seas. (Eastward flow the swift
Metaurus and rushing Crustumium,theSapis together
with the Isaurus, the Sena, the Aufidus which buffets
the waves of the Adriatic; and there the Po, as mighty
a river as any which earth discharges,* snaps off
forests and sweeps them down to sea and drains the
soil of Italy. As legend tells, this was the first river
whose banks were shaded by a ring of poplars ; and
when Phaethon drove the sun downwards athwart its
appointed course and kindled the sky with his burning
reins, till the waters vanished and earth was burnt to
its core, this river had streams sufficient to match
the sun's fire. The Nile would not be greater, did
it not flood the Libyan desert over the flats of low-
lying Egypt ; the Danube would be no greater, did

greater than the Po, and mountains higher than the
Apennines ; but they did not demand truth from poets.

87

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Non minor hie Histro, nisi quod, dum permeat orbem,

Hister casuros in quaelibet aequora fontes

Accipit et Scythicas exit non solus in undas. i2C

Dexteriora petens montis declivia Tliybrim

Unda facit Rutubamque cavum. Delabitur inde

Vulturn usque celer nocturnaeque editor aurae

Sarnus et umbrosae Liris per regna Maricae

Vestinis inpulsus aquis radensque Salerni 42f

Tesca ^ Siler, nuUasque vado qui Macra moratus

Alnos vicinae procurrit in aequora Lunae.)

Longior educto qua surgit in aera dorso,

Gallica rura videt devexasque excipit Alpes.

Tunc Umbris Marsisque ferax domitusque Sabello 43C

Vomere, piniferis amplexus rupibus omnes

Indigenas Latii populos, non deserit ante

Hesperiam, quam cum Scyllaeis clauditur undis,

Extenditque suas in templa Lacinia rupes,

Longior Italia, donee confinia pontus 43f

Solveret incumbens terrasque repelleret aequor;

At postquam gemino tellus elisa profundo est,

Extremi colles Siculo cessere Peloro.

Caesar in arma furens nullas nisi sanguine fuso
Gaudet habere vias, quod non terat hoste vacantes 44(
Hesperiae fines vacuosque inrumpat in agros
Atque ipsum non perdat iter consertaque bellis
Bella gerat. Non tam portas intrare patentes
Quam fregisse iuvat, nee tam patiente colono

* Tesca Heinsius : tecta or culta ^fS3.

1 The Euxine.

* The meaning is that the river is not navigable.
' The straits of Messina.

* The temple of Juno Lacina, on the Gulf of Tarentum.

88

BOOK 11

it not, in its course over the globe, receive waters
that might otherwise fall into any sea, and carry
them with it into the Scythian main.^ But the
waters that run down the western slo])es of Apennine
give birth to the Tiber and the Rutuba in its deep
channel ; and also from there swift Vulturnus flows
down, and the Sarnus that sends forth exhalations
by night; the Liris, driven by Vestinian waters
through the haunts of the wood-nymph, Marica ; the
Siler that grazes the rugged country of Salernum ;
and the Macra, whose shallow stream delays no
ships 2 and speeds forward into the sea of Luna near
at hand.) Where the Apennines taper out and rise
skywards with lofty ridge, they look on the land of
Gaul and come close to the foot-hills of the Alps.
Further south, the range bears harvests for the
Umbrians and Marsians, and is tamed by the Samnite
ploughshare ; its pine-clad cliffs embrace all the
native races of Italy, never leaving the land till
barred by the waters of Scylla,^ and stretching as
far as Lacina's temple.* The ridge was once longer
than Itfily is now, before the pressure of the sea
sundered the isthmus and the water drove back the
land ; but when the earth was crushed out by the
two seas, that end of the Apennines was surrendered
to Pelorus in Sicily.

Caesar, frantic for war, rejoices to find no passage
except by shedding blood ; it pleases him that the
land of Italy on which he tramples supplies him
with a foe, that the fields which he assaults are not
undefended, and that even his marches are not
wasted, but battle follows battle with no interval
between. He would rather burst a city gate than
find it open to admit him ; he would rather ravage

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Arva premi, quam si ferro populetur et igni. 445

Concessa pudet ire via civemque videri.
Tunc urbes Latii dubiae varioque favore
Ancipites, quamquam primo terrore ruentis
Cessurae belli, denso tamen aggere firmant
Moenia et abrupto circumdant undique vallo, 450

Saxorumque orbes, et quae super eminus hostera
Tela petant, altis murorum turribus aptant.
Pronior in Magnum populus, pugnatque minaei
Cum terrore fides ; ut cum mare possidet Auster
Flatibus horrisonis, hunc aequora tota secuntur : 455
Si rursus tellus pulsu laxata tridentis
Aeolii tumidis inmittat fluctibus Eurum,
Quamvis icta novo, ventum tenuere priorem
Aequora, nubiferoque polus cum cesserit Euro,
Vindicat unda Notum. Facilis sed vertere mentes 460
Terror erat, dubiamque fidem fortuna ferebat.

Gens Etrusca fuga trepidi nudata Libonis,
lusque sui pulso iam perdidit Umbria Thermo.
Nee gerit auspiciis civilia bella paternis
Caesaris audito con versus nomine Sulla. 465

Varus, ut admotae pulsarunt Auximon alae.
Per diversa ruens neglecto moenia tergo.
Qua silvae, qua saxa, fugit. Dej)ellitur area
Lentulus Asculea ; victor cedentibus instat
Devertitque acies, solusque ex agmine tanto 470

1 Seven generals are now enumerated, who all commauded
detachments of Pompey's troops in N. Italy.

90

BOOK II

the land with fire and sword than overrun it without
protest from the husbandman. He scorns to advance
by an unguarded road, or to act like a peaceful citizen.
In this hour the towns of Italy, hesitating and waver-
ing in their sympathy for this side or that, though
ready to yield at the first alarm of war's onset, never-
theless strengthen their walls with many a rampart
and surround them on all sides with steep palisades ;
and round stones and missiles to strike the enemy
from above are fitted to the high towers of the walls.
The inhabitants favour Magnus more, and loyalty
contends with the menace of danger. So, when the
roaring blast of the South wind is master of the sea,
all the main is swayed by it; and even if the earth,
opened again by Aeolus with his trident, lets loose
the East wind on the swollen waves, the ocean,
though smitten by the second wind, remains true to
the first ; and, though the sky surrenders to the
rainy East wind, the sea asserts the power of the
South. But danger was quick to change men's
minds, and the turn of events swept away wavering
allegiance.

The men of Etruria are left defenceless by the
hasty flight of Libo,^ and the rout of Thermus has
already taken from Umbria the power of free action.
Sulla, too, has not the fortune of his father in civil
war, but turns to flight on hearing the mere name of
Caesar. Varus, when the advancing cavalry knocked
at the gates of Auximum, rushed through the opposite
gate where the foe had left the rear unguarded, and
fled through forests and hills. Lentulus was dis-
lodged from the fortress of Asculum, and the
conqueror, pressing hard on their retreat, cut off the
army : alone of all the force the general escaped, and

91

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Dux fugit et nullas ducentia signa cohortes.
Tu quoque nudatam commissae deseris arcem,
Scipio, Nuceriae, quamquam firmissima pubes
His sedeat castris, iampridem Caesaris armis
Parthorum seducta metu, qua Gallica damna 475

Supplevit Magnus, dumque ipse ad bella vocaret,
Donavit socero Romani sanguinis usum.
At te Corfini validis circumdata muris
Tecta tenent, pugnax Doiniti ; tua classica servat
Oppositus quondam pollute tiro Miloni. 480

Ut procul inmensam campo consurgere nubem
Ardentesque acies percussis sole corusco
Conspexit telis, " Socii, decurrite " dixit
" Fluminis ad ripas undaeque inraergite pontem.
Et tu montanis totus nunc fontibus exi 485

Atque omnes trahe^ gurges, aquas, ut spumeus alnos
Discussa conpage feras. Hoc limite bellum
Haereat, hac hostis lentus terat otia ripa.
Praecipitem cohibete ducem : victoria nobis
Hie primum stans Caesar erit." Nee plura locutus 490
Devolvit rapidum nequiquam moenibus agmen.
Nam prior e campis ut conspicit amne solute
Rumpi Caesar iter, calida proclamat ^ ab ira :
" Non satis est muris latebras quaesisse pavori ?
Obstruitis campos fluviisque arcere paratis, 495

Ignavi ? non si tumido me gurgite Ganges*
Summoveat, stabit iam flumine Caesar in ullo

* proclamat Bentley : prolatus M88.

^.* In 53 B.C. Ponipey lent a legion to Caesar in Gaul; but the
men were recalled to Italy in 50 B.O,
2 Cf. i. 323.

92

BOOK II

the standards that brought no troops behind them.
Scipio too abandons the stronghold of Nuceria and
leaves his charge defenceless^ though here were
encamped stalwart soldiers, withdrawn long ago
from Caesar's army because of the Parthian peril ;
with these Magnus once made good the losses in
Gaul, and granted a loan of Roman lives to his
kinsman, until he himself should summon them to
war.*

But Domitius, eager for battle, lay behind strong
walls in the city of Corfinium ; and under his
command were the men who, as recruits, had been
arrayed against bloodstained Milo.^ When Domitius
saw far away a vast cloud of dust rising from the
plain, and the glitter of a host whose weapons were
struck by the sunlight, " Comrades," he cried " speed
down to the river banks and sink the bridge beneath
the water. I call on the stream at once to issue forth
in might from its springs in the mountains and bring
hither all its waters, to carry down with foaming
current the planks of the shattered structure. At
this point must the war be stayed ; on these banks
let the foe waste time in idleness ! Check ye his
headlong haste ; it will be a victory to us if Caesar
is first brought to a halt here." Without another
word he hurried the soldiers down from the walls,
but in vain. Caesar got the start of him : from the
plain he saw that they were letting loose the river
to interrupt his march ; and in hot anger he cried
out : " Cowards ! not content with seeking a hiding-
place behind walls for your fear, do you barricade
the plains and seek to keep me off by means of
rivers? After crossing the Rubicon, never again
will Caesar be stopped by any stream, not even if the

93

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Post Rubiconis aquas. Equitum properate catervae,

Ite simul pedites, ruiturum ascendite pontem."

Haec ubi dicta, levis totas accepit habenas 600

In campum sonipes, crebroque simillima nimbo

Trans ripam validi torserunt tela lacerti.

Ingreditur pulsa fluvium statione vacantem

Caesar, et ad tutas hostis conpellitur arces.

Et iam moturas ingentia pondera turres 505

Erigit, et mediis subrepit vinea niuris :

Ecce, nefas belli ! reseratis agmina portis

Captivum traxere ducem, civisque superbi

Constitit ante pedes. Voltu tamen alta minaci

Nobilitas recta ferrum cervice poposcit. 610

Scit Caesar poenamque peti veniamque timeri.

" Vive, licet nolis, et nostro munere " dixit

" Cerne diem. Victis iam spes bona partibus esto

Exemplumque mei. Vel, si libet, arma retempta,

Et nihil hac venia, si viceris, ipse paciscor." 615

Fatur et astrictis laxari vincula palmis

Imperat. Heu quanto melius vel caede peracta

Parcere Romano potuit fortuna pudori !

Poenarum extremum civi, quod castra secutus

Sit patriae Magnumque ducem totumque senatum, 520

Ignosci. Premit ille graves interritus iras

Et secum : " Romamne petes pacisque recessus

Degener ? in medios belli non ire furores

* /.«. the bridge over the stream.
94

J'^A3IJ300K II

Gnnges blocked his way with its swollen, flood. Let
tlie squadrons of horse gallop forward and the
infantry also advance ; and mount the bridge ere it
falls." When thus he spoke, the light horse charged
in full gallop across the plain, and strong arms
hurled javelins like heavy rain over the bank.
Driving back the guard, Caesar occupies the un-
defended stream,^ and the enemy are forced back to
the safety of the citadel. Next Caesar erects to vers
to launch huge masses of stone, and the penthouse
creeps up to the walls that divide the armies. But
see ! — abomination of war ! — the gates are opened
and the soldiers drag their general a prisoner.
Domitius halted in the presence of his arrogant
equal ; yet with threatening mien and neck unbent,
his lofty soul demanded death by the sword. But
knowing that he sought punishment and feared
pardon, Caesar addressed him : '' Live on, against
your will, and see the sun by my generosity. Be an
earnest of hope to your friends when they are con-
quered, and enable them to judge of me ; even, if
you choose, draw the sword again ; and, if you prove
victorious, 1 make no bargain for myself on the
strength of mercy shown to you." With these
words he bids the bonds be loosened from the fettered
hands. How much better, if he had been slain
outright, would Fortune have respected the honour
of a Roman ! This surpasses all other penalties, that
for joining the army of his country — an army led by
Magnus and including the whole Senate — a patriot
should be pardoned ! Unterrified, Domitius hid his
grievous wrath, and thus addressed himself : " Will
you, thus disgraced, seek peaceful retirement at
Rome ? Haste rather to the centre of war's horrors

95

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

I^m dudum moriture paras ? rue certus et omnes
Lucis riimpe moras et Caesaris efFuge munus." 626

Nescius interea ca])ti ducis arma parabat
Magnus, ut inmixto firmaret robore partes,
lainque secuturo iussurus classica Phoebo
Temptandasque ratus moturi militis iras
Adloquitur tacitas veneranda voce cohortes : 630

'f O scelerum ultores melioraque signa seciiti,
O vere Romana manus, quibus arma senatus
Non privata dedit, votis deposcite pugnam.
Ardent Hesperii saevis populatibus agri,
Gallica per gelidas rabies effunditur Alpes, 535

lam tetigit sanguis pollutes Caesaris enses. ^ t

Di melius, belli tulimus quod damna priores : r

Coeperit inde nefas, iam iam me praeside Roma
Supplicium poenamque petat. Neque enim ista vocari
Proelia iusta decet, patriae sed vindicis iram ; 540

Nee magis hoc bellum est, quam quom Catilina paravit
Arsuras in tecta faces sociusque furoris
Lentulus exertique manus vaesana Cethegi.
O rabies miseranda ducis ! cum fata Camillis
Te, Caesar, magnisque velint miscere Metellis, 645

Ad Cinnas Mariosque venis. Sternere profecto^
Ut Catulo iacuit Lepidus, nostrasque secures
Passus, Sicanio tegitur qui Carbo sepulchre,
Quique feros movit Sertorius exul Hiberos.

^ It was a custom with this family to wear no tunic under the
toga, so that the arms were bare : comp. vi. 794.

96

f-.UVIADI BOOK II

and die as soon as may be. Speed straight to your
mark, snap every tie that binds you to life, and
escape Caesar's generosity ! **

Magnus meanwhile, unaware that Domitius had
been made prisoner, was taking the field, in order to
encourage liis adherents by an addition of strength.
On the following day he intended to bid his trumpets
sound, and now thought fit to test the ardour of his
men before they marched. There was silence in the
ranks as that august voice addressed them :
*' Avengers of crime and followers of the rightful
standards, Romans indeed, whom the Senate has
armed to defend your country, declare now your
eagerness for battle. The fields of Italy are on fire
with savage devastation, the fury of Gaul is pouring
over the wintry Alps, blood has already touched and
defiled the swords of Caesar. I thank Heaven that
we first have borne the losses of war ; be it so ! let
the wickedness begin with the other side ; but now
must Rome, under my leadership, demand the
penalty and inflict the punishment. For the battles
you must fight should not be called battles but the
wrath and vengeance of our country. This is net
war, any more than it was when brands to burn our
houses were prepared by Catiline, and by Lentulus,
his partner in wickedness, and by the frantic hand of
Cethegus-the man of the naked arm.^ What
pitiable madness is Caesar's ! Though Fortune is
ready to raise him to the height of a Camillus or
great Metellus, he joins the ranks of such as Marius
and Cinna. His defeat is certain, just as Lepidus
was overthrown by Catulus, and as Carbo, who now
lies in a Sicilian grave, was beheaded by my orders ;
and so Sertorius fell, who in exile stirred the fierce

97

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Quamquam, si qua fides, his te quoque iungere, Caesar,

Invideo nostrasque manus quod Roma furenti 651

Opposuit. Parthorum utinam post proelia sospes

Et Scythicis Crassus victor remeasset ab oris,

Ut simili causa caderes, quoi ^ Spartacus, hosti. ;

Te quoque si superi titulis accedere nostris 655

lusserunt, valet en ! torquendo dextera pile,

Fervidus haec iterum circa praecordia sanguis

Incaluit ; disces non esse ad bella fugaces.

Qui pacem potuere pati. Licet ille solutum

Defectumque vocet, ne vos mea terreat aetas : 660

Dux sit in his castris senior, dum miles in illis.

Quo potuit civem populus perducere liber,

Ascendi, supraque nihil, nisi regna, reliqui.

Non privata cupis, Romana quisquis in urbe

Pompeium transire paras. Hinc consul uterque, 665

Hinc acies statura ducum est. Caesarne senatus

Victor erit.'' non tam caeco trahis omnia cursu,

Teque nihil, Fortuna, pudet. lunctisne ^ rebellis

Gallia iam lustris aetasque inpensa labori

Dant animos ? Rheni gelidis quod fugit ab undis 670

Oceanumque vocans incerti stagna profundi

Territa quaesitis ostendit terga Britannis ?

An vanae tumuere minae, quod fama furoris

Rxpulit armatam patriis e sedibus urbem ?

Heu demens ! non te fugiunt, me cuncta secuntur.

^ quoi Housman : quod or qua MSS.

* lunctis suggested by Housman : multis MSS. : geminis Bentley.

— . _ . , )

* The army of slaves and gladiators led by Spartacus was
destroyed by Crassus in 71 B.C.

2 So Livy says of the 300 Fabii, ** every one of them was fit
to command " {qvorxim neminem ducem sperneres).
2 The North Sea with its tides is meant.

98

BOOK II

Spaniards to war. And yet, upon my honour, I am
loth to couple Caesar even with these, and I grieve
that Rome has set my arm to stop his madness.
Would that Crassus had returned after battle with
the Parthians alive and victorious from the borders
of Scythia, that Caesar, not less guilty than Spartacus,*
might be overthrown by the same antagonist. But
if Heaven has ordained that he too should add to my
fame, see ! this right hand has strength to hurl the
pilum, the blood about this heart has kindled to a
glow once again ; he shall leain that men who were
able to put up with peace are no cowards in war.
Though he call me feeble and worn out, you must
not be disquieted by my age : that I am older than
Caesar matters not, provided his soldiers are older
than mine. I have risen as high as a free people
could exalt a citizen, and above me nothing remains
save tyranny. Whoever schemes to rise above
Pompey in the Roman State covets too much for a
mere subject. On my side both consuls will take their
stand, and on my side an army made up of generals.^
Shall Caesar defeat the Sen ite } No I Fortune does
not bring on the course of events so bhndly ; she is
not so utterly shameless. What emboldens Caesar ?
Is it Gaul, which twice five years have not tamed ? Is
it a lifetime devoted to the task ? Is it because he
fled from the cold waters of Rhine, and gave the
name of Ocean to the pools of a sea ^ that was
neither sea nor land, and turned his back in panic
to the Britons whom he went out of his way to
attack ? Or have his idle threats risen high,
because the report of his madness has driven the
people forth in arms from their native city .'' Poor
madman ! It is not you before whom all things flee,

99

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Qui cum signa tuli toto fulgentia ponto.

Ante bis exactum quam Cynthia conderet orbem,

Omne fretum metuens pelagi pirata reliquit

Angustaque domum terrarum in sede poposcit.

Idem per Scythici profugum divortia ponti

Indomitum regem Romanaque fata morantem

Ad mortem Sulla felicior ire coegi.

Pars mundi mihi nulla vacat ; sed tota tenetur

Terra meis, quocumque iacet sub sole, trop^eis :

Hinc me victorem gelidas ad Phasidos undas

Arctos habet ; calida medius mihi cognitus axis

Aegypto atque umbras nusquam flectente Syene ;

Occasus mea iura timent Tethynque fugacem

Qui ferit Hesperius post omnia flumina Baetis.

Me domitus cognovit Arabs, me Marte feroces

Heniochi notique erepto vellere Colchi.

Cappadoces mea signa timent et dedita sacris

Incerti ludaea dei mollisque Sophene.

Armenios Cilicasque feros Taurumque subegi.

Quod socero bellum praeter civile reliqui ? " 591

Verba ducis nullo partes clamore secuntur
Nee matura petunt promissae classica pugnae.
Sensit et ipse metum Magnus, placuitque referri
Signa nee in tantae discrimina mittere pugnae
iam victum fama. non visi Caesaris agmen.
Pulsus ut armentis primo certamine taurus
Silvarum secreta petit vacuosque per agros

1 Mithradates, King of Pontus. He was driven to tak
refuge in his Bosporan kingdom (the Crimea) and sought deati
there in 63 b.o.
lOO

BOOK II

but I whom all things follow. When I bore the
standards that shone over all the sea, before the
moon had twice filled out her disk and hidden it
again^ the pirates, scared from the sea and abandon-
ing every creek, begged for a narrow plot of dry
land to live on. Again, when the indomitable king^
obstructed Rome's destiny, 1 drove him in flight
along the isthmus of the Scythian sea ; and I, more
fortunate than Sulla, forced him to die. No part of
the world have I left untouched : the whole earth,
beneath whatever clime it lies, is occupied by my
trophies. On one side, the North knows my victories
by the icy waters of the Phasis ; the torrid zone is
known to me in sultry Egypt and Syene where the
shadows fall perpendicular ; my power is dreaded in
the West, and where Spanish Baetis, remotest of all
rivers, beats back the ebbing tide. The Arab owns
me his conqueror ; so do the warlike Heniochi, and
the Colclnans famous for the fleece they were robbed
of. My standards overawe Cappadocia, and Judaea
given over to the worship of an unknown god, and
effeminate Sophene ; I subdued the Armenians, the
fierce Cilicians, and the range of Taurus. I have
left my kinsman no war to wage, except civil war."

The general's speech was followed by no applause
from his supporters, nor did his men demand at once
the signal for the promised battle. Magnus himself
was conscious of their fear ; and it was decided to
recall the standards, rather than expose to the
hazard of a decisive engagement an army already
beaten by the rumour of Caesar before they saw
him. When a bull is driven from the herd by his
first defeat, he seeks the recesses of the forest, or
spends his solitary banishment in the fields; there

lOI

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Exul in adversis explorat cornua truncis
Nee redit in pastus, nisi eum cerviee recepta
Excussi placuere tori ; mox reddita victor
Quoslibet in saltus eomitantibus agmina taiiris
Invito pastore trahit : sic viribus inpar
Tradidit Hesperiam profugusque per Apula rura
Brundisii tutas concessit Magnus in arces.

Ur])s est Dictaeis olim possessa colonis,
Qiios Creta profugos vexere per aequora puppes
Cecropiae, victum mentitis Thesea velis.
Hinc latus angustum iam se cogentis in artum
Hesperiae tenuem producit in aequora bnguanj,
Hadriacas flexis claudit quae cornibus undas.
Nee tamen hoc artis inmissum faucibus aequor
Portus erat, si non violentos insula Coros
Exciperet saxis lassasque refunderet undas.
Hinc illinc montes scopulosae rupis aperto
Opposuit natura mari flatusque removit,
Ut tremulo starent contentae fune carinae.
Hinc late patet omne fretum, seu vela ferantur
In portus, Corcyra, tuos, seu laeva petatur
Illyris lonias vergens Epidamnos in undas.
Hue fuga nautarum, cum totas Hadria vires
Movit et in nubes abiere Ceraunia cumque
Spumoso Calaber perfunditur aequore Sason.

Ergo, ubi nulla fides rebus post terga relictis
Nee licet ad duros Martem convertere Hiberos,

1 The story is told at length in Catullus 64, 212 ff. ; the
colour of the sails gave the false news.
* An island.

I02

BOOK II

he tests his horns upon the tree-trunks for
oj)})onents ; nor does he return to the pasture till he
has recovered strength and approves of his starting
muscles ; but when he has conquered his rival and
got back his herd, he leads them, accompanied by
the bulls, to what glades he will, and defies the
herdsman. Thus Pompey surrendered Italy to his
stronger rival, and fled through the open country of
Apulia till he found a safe retreat in the fortress of
Brundisium.

Of yore this city was occupied by men of Dicte —
Cretan exiles, who were borne across the sea on
Athenian ships with the sails that falsely told that
Theseus had been conquered.^ At this point Italy
grows narrow, and her straitened border puts forth
a slender tongue of land into the sea — a tongue
which encloses waters of the Adriatic within curving
horns. Yet the water that makes its way through
the narrow entrance would be no harbour, but for
an island, which confronts the fierce northern gales
with a barrier of rock and repels the wearied waves.
On both sides Nature has set masses of craggy cliff
to meet the open sea, and has kept off the blasts,
'that ships might ride there at anchor, content with
a swaying cable. From here all the sea is visible far
and wide, whether the ship is bound for the ports of
Corcyra or turns to the left, where Illyrian Epidamnos
slopes down towards the Ionian sea. Here the
mariner takes refuge, when the Adriatic puts forth
^all its might, when the Ceraunian mountains are lost
in cloud, and when Sason ^ in Calabria is drenched
with spray.

Pompey felt no confidence in the success of the
cause he had left behind him : nor could he transfer
the war to the land of the hardy Spaniards, because

103

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Cum mediae iaceant inmensis tractibus Alpes, 630

Tum subole e taiita natum, cui firmior aetas,

Adfatur : " Mundi iubeo temptare recessus :

Euphraten Nilumque move, quo nominis usque

Nostri fama venit, quas est volgata per urbes

Post me Roma ducem. Sparsos per rura colonos 635

Redde mari Cilicas ; Pharios hinc concute reges

Tigraiiemque meum ; nee Pharnaeis arma relinquas,

Admoiieo, nee tu populos utraque vagantes

Armenia Pontique feras per litora gentes

Riphaeasque manus et quas tenet aequore denso 640

Pigra palus Scythici patiens Maeotia plaustri,

Et — quid plura moror ? totos mea, nate, per ortus

Bella feres totoque urbes agitabis in orbe

Perdomitas ; omnes redeant in castra triumphi.

At vos, qui Latios signatis nomine fastos, 646

Primus in Epirum Boreas agat ; inde per arva

Graiorum Macetumque novas adquirite vires,

Dum paci dat tempus hiemps." Sic fatur, et omnes

lussa gerunt solvuntque cavas a litore puppes.

At numquam patiens pacis longaeque quietis GGO

Armorum, ne quid fatis mutare liceret,
Adsequitur generique premit vestigia Caesar.
Sufficerent aliis primo tot moenia cursu
Rapta, tot oppressae depulsis hostibus arces,
Ipsa, caput mundi, bellorum maxima merces, 655

Roma capi facilis ; sed Caesar in omnia praeceps,

1 Cnacus Pompeius Magnus: the younger was Sextus.

2 The Sea of Azov.

* The consuls, Lentulus and C. Marcellus.

104

BOOK II

the vast extent of the Alps lay between ; and there-
fore he thus addressed the elder of his noble sons ^ :
*' I bid you explore the ends of the earth. Stir up
the Euphrates and the Nile — every region where the
glory of my fame penetrates, every city where the
name of Rome became famous alter my exploits.
Bring back to the sea the Cilician colonists now
dispersed over the land ; next rouse up the sove-
reigns of Egypt and Tigranes whom I made king.
I bid you pay heed also to the army of Pharnaces,
the nomad races of the two Armenias, the savage
nations along the shores of the Black Sea, the Car-
pathian hordes, and the men whom the sluggish
Maeotian mere,^ trodden by Scythian waggons,
maintains on its frozen expanse. But why detain
you longer.'* Carry through all the East the stand-
ard of your sire, and rouse to arms the cities I have
conquered all the world over : let all over whom I
have triumphed repair to my camp. Next, you two
who date by your names the Roman calendar,^ the
first North wind must waft you to Epirus. Thence
seek fresh strength in the lands of Greece and
Macedon, while winter grants time for peace."
Thus Pompey spoke, and they all obeyed his bidding
and loosed their hollow ships from the shore.

But Caesar, ever impatient of peace or long cessa-
tion from warfare, and fearing that Fortune might
have power to work some change, follows close and
dogs the steps of his son-in-law. Others might be
content after seizing so many cities at the first
assault, after surprising so many strongholds and
dislodging their garrisons, and after seeing Rome
itself, the capital of the world and the chief prize of
war, an easy prey ; but Caesar, headlong in all his
designs, thought nothing done while anything

105

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Nil actum credens, cum quid superesset agendum,

Instat atrox et adhuc, quamvis possederit omnem

Italiam^ extreme sedeat quod litore Magnus,

Communem tamen esse dolet. Nee rursus aperto 660

Vult hostes errare freto, sed molibus undas

Obstruit et latum deiectis rupibus aequor.

Cedit in inmensum cassus labor : omnia pontus

Haurit saxa vorax montesque inmiscet harenis :

Ut maris Aeolii^ medias si celsus in undas 665

Depellatur Eryx, nullae tamen aequore rupes

Emiheant^ vel si convolso vertice Gaurus

Decidat in fundum penitus stagnantis Averni.

Ergo ubi nulla vado tenuit sua pondera moles,

Tunc placuit caesis innectere vincula silvis 670

Roboraque inmensis late religare catenis.

Tales fama canit tumidum super aequora Persen

Construxisse vias, multum cum pontibus ausus

Europamque Asiae Sestonque admovit Abydo

Incessitque fretum rapidi super Hellesponti, 675

Non Eurum Zepbyrumque timens, cum vela ratesque

In medium deferret Atlion. Sic ora profundi

Artantur casu nemorum ; tunc aggere multo

Surgit opus, longaeque tremunt super aequora turres.

Pompeius tellure nova conpressa profundi 680

Ora videns curis animum mordacibus angit,
Ut reseret pelagus spargatque per aequora bellum.
Saepe Noto plenae tensisque rudentibus actae

^ Aeolii Bentley : Aegaei M88.

^ Xerxes.
io6

BOOK II

remained to do. He pressed fiercely forwards ; and,
though he was master of all Italy, he resented that
the land was still shared between them ; for Magnus
retained a foothold on the margin of the sea. But
unwilling, on the other hand, that the enemy should
range freely over the deep, he blocks the sea with
masonry and casts down rocks into the wide waters.
0<,, In vain the endless labour was carried on ; for the
greedy main swallowed down every boulder and
mingled the huge heaps with her sands. So, if
Mount Eryx were thrown down into the midst of the
Aeolian sea, or if Gaurus, with summit wrenched
from its place, were sunk deep down into the
• Avernian pool, nevertheless no cliffs would emerge
from the surface of the waters. Therefore, when no
pile of stone stood steady on the bottom, Caesar next
resolved to fell trees and bind them together, and to
make fast a wide expanse of timber with long
chains. Such, by the report of fame, was the road
built over the sea by the proud Persian,^ when,
greatly daring, he brought Europe near to Asia
and Sestos to Abydos by his bridges, and passed on
foot over the straits of fast-flowing Hellespont ; East
wind and West wind had no terrors for him, since he
conveyed his ships under sail to the centre of Mount
Athos. Thus the egress to the deep was straitened
by the felling of the forest ; soon the work rose high
with many a mound of earth, and high towers
swayed above the sea.

When Pompey saw his exit to the sea narrowed
by new-made land, his mind was racked with distress
and doubt how he might unbar the deep and spread
his forces over the main. Again and again his
vessels, driven along before the wind with straining
cordage, passed right through the obstacle that

107

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Ipsa maris per claustra rates fastigia molis

Discussere salo spatiumque dedere carinis, 685

Tortaque per tenebras validis ballista lacertis

Multifidas iaculata faces. Ut tempora tandem

Furtivae placuere fugae, ne litora clamor

Nauticus exagitet, neu bucina dividat horas,

Neu tuba praemonitos perducat ad aequora nautas, 690

Praecepit sociis. lam coeperat ultima Virgo

Phoebum laturas ortu praecedere Chelas,

Cum tacitas solvere rates. Non ancliora voces

Movit, dum spissis avellitur uncus harenis ;

Dum iuga curvantur mali dumque ardua pinus 695

Erigitur, pavidi classis siluere magistri,

Strictaque pendentes deducunt carbasa nautae

Nee quatiunt validos, ne sibilet aura, rudentes.

Dux etiam votis hoc te, Fortuna, precatur,

Quam retinere vetas, liceat sibi perdere saltem 700

Italiam. Vix fata sinunt ; nam murmure vasto

Inpulsum rostris sonuit mare, fluctuat unda,

Totque carinarum permixtis aequora sulcis

Eruta fervescunt lilusque frementia pulsant.^

Ergo hostes portis, quas omnes solverat urbis
Cum fato conversa fides, murisque recepti 705

Praecipiti cursu flexi per cornua portus
Ora petunt pelagusque dolent contingere classi.
Heu pudor ! exigua est fugiens victoria Magnus.

* The line in italics was inserted by Housinan.

To8 ,!!)Ri!>do 9iii

BOOK II

barred the sea and threw down the ends of the boom
into the water, thus giving sea-room to the fleet ;
often in the darkness of night, his machines, wound
up by stalwart arms, launched a shower of cleft fire-
brands. When at last he had fixed a day for secret
flight, he gave orders to his men that no shouting
of the crews should alarm the shore, that no signal
should mark the watches, nor any trumpet forewarn
the sailors and recall them to the fleet. Silently
they loosed their vessels when the last part of the
Virgin had begun to rise in front of the Scales, which
at their rising would bring the sun with them. No
shout was raised when the anchor-flukes were
wrenched from the thick sand ; the captains of the
fleet were anxious and silent, while the yards of the
mast were bent and the tall mast itself Avas hoisted ;
the sailors, dangling in the air, pulled down the
furled sails without shaking the stout cordage, that
the wind might not whistle through it. The leader
even prays to Fortune, that she will suflfer him at
least to abandon the Italy which she forbids him to
retain. Fortune scarcely grants his request ; for the
sea, smitten by the prows, gave forth a confused
roaring, the waves rose, and the billows, churned up
by the mingled wakes of so many hulls, boiled and
raged as they struck the shore.

Therefore the enemy, admitted within the walls
and through the gates — for the loyalty of the citizens
had changed sides together with fortune and thrown
all the gates open — rushed in eager haste along the
branching piers of the winding harbour towards its
mouth, angry that the sea should be accessible to the
ships. Shame on them that the flight of Magnus
is not victory enough ! Narrow was the chaimel

109

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Angustus puppes mittebat in aequora limes

Artior Euboica, quae Chalcida verberat, unda. 710 ^

Hie haesere rates geminae, classique paratae

Excepere manus, tractoque in litora bello

Hie primum rubuit civili sanguine Nereus.

Cetera classis abit summis spoliata carinis :

Ut, Pagasaea ratis peteret cum Phasidos undas, 111

Cyaneas tellus emisit in aequora cautes ;

Rapta puppe minor subducta est montibus Argo,

Vanaque percussit pontum Symplegas inanem

Et statura redit. lam Phoebum urguere monebat

Non idem Eoi color aetheris, albaque nondum 72(

Lux rubet et flammas propioribus eripit astris,

Et iam Plias hebet, flexi iam plaustra Bootae

In faciem puri redeunt languentia caeli,

Maioresque latent stellae, calidumque refugit

Lucifer ipse diem. Pelagus iam^ Magne, tenebas, 72i

Non ea fata ferens, quae, cum super aequora toto

Praedonem sequerere mari : lassata triumphis

Descivit Fortuna tuis. Cum coniuge pulsus

Et natis totosque trahens in bella penates

Vadis adhuc ingens populis comitantibus exul. 73(

Quaeritur indignae sedes longinqua ruinae.

Non quia te superi patrio privare sepulchre

Maluerint, Phariae busto damnantur harenae :

Parcitur Hesperiae : procul hoc et in orbe remote

Abscondat Fortuna nefas, Romanaque tellus 131

Inmaculata sui servetur sanguine Magni.

1 Another name for the Cyanean Rocks.
Iio

BOOK II

that let the ships out to sea, narrower than the water
of Euboea that beats on Chalcis. Here two ships
ran aground and were taken by bands of soldiers
lying in wait for the fleet. Then the fighting was
transferred to the shore, and here the sea was first
incarnadined with the blood of civil war. Robbed
of its rearmost ships, the rest of the fleet put forth.
So, when the Argo sailed from Thessaly to the river
Phasis, earth launched forth the Cyanean Rocks
upon the deep ; but the ship was rescued from the
shock, though her stern was carried away : and the
Clashing Rocks ^ struck the empty sea in vain,
recoiled, and remained at rest for ever. And now the
changing hue of the Eastern sky gave warning that
the sun was near his rising ; and the ruddy light, not
white as yet, stole their fire from the nearer stars ;
now the Pleiads were growing dim, the wain of
circling Bootes grew faint and merged into the
indistinguishable aspect of the sky, the greater stars
went out, and Lucifer himself fled before the heat of
day. By this time Magnus had gained the open
sea ; but the fortune which attended him when he
hunted the pirates all over the deep was no longer
his ; good luck, wearied out by his triumphs, now
proved untrue. Driven forth with his wife and sons,
taking his whole household with him to war, still
mighty in banishment, he goes forth with nations in
his train. Destiny is seeking a distant scene for the
destruction of her innocent victim. The sands of
Egypt are doomed to be his grave, not because the
gods preferred to rob him of a tomb in his native
land, but in mercy to Italy : let destiny hide that
tragedy far away in a distant region, and let Roman
soil be kept unstained by the blood of Rome's
darling Magnus.

Ill

I

BOOK III

VOL. 1

I

LIBER TERTIUS

Propulit ut classem velis cedentibus Auster

Incumbens mediumque rates movere profundum,

Omnis in lonios specta})at navita fluctus :

Solus ab Hesperia non Hexit luraina terra

Magnus, dum patrios portus, dum litora numquam 5

Ad visus reditura suos tectumque eacumen

Nubibus et dubios cernit vanescere montes.

Inde soporifero cesserunt languida somno

Membra duels ; diri turn plena horroris imago

Visa caput maestum per hiantes lulia terras 10

Tollere et accenso furialis stare sepulchre.

" Sedibus Elysiis campoque expulsa piorum

Ad Stygias " inquit " tenebras manesque nocentes

Post bellum civile trahor. Vidi ipsa tenentes

Eumenidas, quaterent quas vestris lampadas armis ; 16

Praeparat innumeras puppes Acherontis adusti

Portitor ; in multas laxantur Tartara poenas ;

Vix operi cunctae dextra properante sorores

Sufficiuntj lassant rumpentes stamina Parcas.

Coniuge me laetos duxisti^ Magne, triumphos : 20

Fortuna est mutata toris, semperque potentes

Detrahere in cladem fato damnata maritos

^ The river-banks are scorched.
114

BOOK 111

When the wind bore down on the yielding sails
and drove the fleet forward till the ships ploughed
the open sea, all the sailors looked ahead over the
Ionian waves. Magnus alone never took his eyes
off the land of Italy until the harbours of his
country, with the shore he was never to see again
and the cloud-veiled hill-tops and mountains, grew
dim before his eyes and disappeared. His wearied
frame then yielded to drowsy sleep, and straight he
saw a dream : Julia, a spectre full of dread and
menace, raised her sorrowful head above the yawn-
ing earth and stood in the guise of a Fury amid the
flames of her funeral pyre. And thus she spoke :
" Now that civil war lias begun, driven forth from
the Elysian Fields and abode of the blest, I am
dragged to Stygian darkness and the place of guilty
spirits. There I saw with these eyes the Furies,
and in their hands were torches, to brandish for
kindling the strife between you ; the ferryman of
scorched Acheron ^ is getting ready countless boats ;
Tartarus is making wide its borders for the punish-
ment of many sinners ; all three Parcae, though
their hands are busy, are scarce equal to their task,
and the Sisters are weary of breaking the threads.
NV'hile I was your wife, Magnus, you celebrated
joyful triumphs. But your fortune changed with
your bride : my rival, Cornelia, condemned by Fate
ever to drag down her husbands from power to

M. ANNAEUS LUC ANUS

[nnupsit tepido paelex Cornelia busto. ,

Haereat ilia tuis per bella, per aequora, signis, '

Dum non secures liceat mihi rumpere somnos 26

Kt nullum vestro vacuum sit tempus amori,

Sed teneat Caesarque dies et lulia noctes.

Me non Lethaeae, coniunx, oblivia ripae

Inmemorem fecere tui, regesque silentum

Permisere sequi. V^eniam te bella gerente 30

In medias acies. Numquam tibi, Magne, per umbras

Perque meos manes genero non esse licebit ;

Abscidis frustra ferro tua pignora : bellum

Te faciei civile meum." Sic fata refugit

Umbra per amplexus trepidi dilapsa mariti. 35

Ille, dei quamvis cladem manesque minentur,
Maior in arma ruit certa cum mente malorum
Et "• quid " ait " vani terremur imagine visus ?
Aut nihil est sensus animis a morte relictum
Aut mors ipsa nihil." Titan iam pronus in undas 40
Ibat et igniferi tantum demerserat orbis,
Quantum desse solet lunae, seu plena futura est,
Seu iam plena fuit : tunc obtulit hospita tellus
Puppibus accessus faciles ; lege re rudentes
Et posito remis petierunt litora malo. 46

Caesar, ut emissas venti rapuere carinas,
Absconditque fretum classes, et litore solus
Dux stetit Hesperio, non ilium gloria pulsi
Laetificat Magni : queritur, quod tuta per aequor
Terga ferant hostes. Neque enim iam sufficit ulla 60

^ Cornelia had been the wife of P. Crassus, who fell ^vith his
father at Carrhae.

'^ I e. you will die.

^ If sensation is lost, the vision is a mere delusion ; and, if
sensation remains, death is not dreadful.

ii6

BOOK III

destruction,^ supplanted me ere my pyre was cold.
She is welcome to cling to your standards on land
and sea, if only I have power to trouble and disturb
your slumbers, and if no time is left free for love
between you, while Caesar takes up your days and
Julia your nights. Not even the forgetful shore
of Lethe has banished my husband from my memory,
and I am permitted by the Rulers of the dead to
haunt you. When you fight battles, I shall appear
in the centre of the fray : never shall my shade, my
ghost, suffer you to forget that you were husband
to Caesar's daughter. In vain you sever with the
sword the tie of kinship that binds you. The civil
war shall make you mine." ^ Thus speaking, the
ghost fled away, dissolving in the arms of her eager
husband.

Though threatened with disaster by the gods and
by the dead, Pompey rushed more eagerly to arms
with a mind made up for calamity. " Why," said
he, "am I terrified by the sight of a meaningless
spectre ? Either no feeling remains to the soul
after death, or death itself matters not at all." ^
The sun was now sinking towards the sea, and had
dipped as much of his flaming disk as the moon is
wont to lose just before she is at the full or just
after; and now a friendly land offered the ships an
easy approach ; the men hauled in the stays, laid
the masts along, and rowed ashore.

When the wind snatched the vessels away from
Caesar's grasp and the sea concealed the fleet, he
stood on the Italian shore, a leader without a rival ;
yet he felt no joy in the glory of driving Magnus
out, but only vexation that the enemy had fled
safely over the deep. No success could any longer

"7

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Praecipiti fortuna viro, nee vincere tanti,
Ut bellum difFerret, erat. Turn pectore euras
Expulit armorum pacique intentus agebat,
Quoque modo vanos populi eoneiret amores,
Gnarus et irarum causas et summa favoris
Annona momenta trahi. Namque adserit urbes
Sola famesj emiturque metus, cum segne potentes
Volgus alunt : nescit plebes ieiuna timere.
Curio Sicanias transcendere iussus in urbes.
Qua mare tellurem subitis aut obruit undis
Aut scidit, et medias fecit sibi litora terras ;
Vis illic ingens pelagi, semperque laborant
Aequora, ne rupti repetant confinia montes.
Bellaque Sardoas etiam sparguntur in oras.
Utraque frugiferis est insula nobilis arvis ;
Nee prius Hesperiam longinquis messibus ullae
Nee Romana magis conplerunt horrea terrae.
Ubere vix glaebae superat, cessantibus Austris,
Cum medium nubes Borea cogente sub axem
Effusis magnum Libye tulit imbribus annum.

Haec ubi sunt provisa duci, tunc agmina victor
Non armata trahens sed pacis habentia voltum,
Tecta petit patriae. Pro, si remeasset in urbem,
Gallorum tantum populis Arctoque subacta,
Quam seriem rerum longa praemittere pompa,
Quas potuit belli facies ! ut vincula Rheno
Oceanoque daret, celsos ut Gallia currus
Nobilis et flavis sequeretur mixta Britannis.

* His bridge over the Rhine is meant.
ii8

BOOK III

satisfy his impetuous haste ; even victory in the
war was not worth the price of delay. At once he
banished thoughts of battle from his mind, and passed
his time over problems of peace and the means of
winning the fickle favour of the populace ; for he
knew that the causes of hatred and mainsprings
of popularity are determined by the price of food.
Hunger alone makes cities free ; and when men in
power feed the idle mob, they buy subservience ; a
starving people is incapable of fear. He bade Curio
cross over to the cities of Sicily, by the way where
the sea either covered the land with sudden inunda-
tion or severed it and turned to shore what had once
been inland ; mighty there is the working of the
sea, and its waters ever strive to prevent the severed
mountains from renewing their contact. Other
troops were detached for the borders of Sardinia.
Both islands are famous for their harvest-fields : no
foreign lands supplied Italy and the granaries of
Rome earlier than these or more abundantly. In
fertility of soil Africa hardly excels them, even
when the South winds lag and the North wind
drives the clouds to the torrid zone, and the rains
pour down to produce a mighty harvest.

When he had taken these precautions, the
victorious general led his troops, unarmed and
wearing the aspect of peace, to the city of his birth.
Ah ! if he had conquered only the North and the
tribes of Gaul before returning to Rome, what a
line of exploits, what scenes of war, he might have
sent before him in long procession through the
city ! — the fetters he had laid upon the Rhine ^ and
the Ocean, his lofty chariot followed by noble Gauls
together with fair-haired Britons ! How grand a

119

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Perdidit o qualem vincendo plura triumphum I

Non ilium laetis vadentem coetibus urbes 80

Sed tacitae videre metu, nee constitit usquam

Obvia turba duel. Gaudet tamen esse timori

Tam magno populis et se non mallet amari.

lamque et praecipites superaverat Anxuris arces,
Et qua Pomptinas via dividit uda paludes, 86

Qua sublime nemus^ Scythicae qua regna Dianae,
Quaque iter est Latiis ad sumraam fascibus Albam ;
Excelsa de rupe procul iam conspicit urbem
Arctoi toto non visam tempore belli
Miratusque suae sic fatur moenia Romae : 90

" Tene, deum sedes, non ullo Marte coacti
Deseruere viri ? pro qua pugnabitur urbe?
Di melius, quod non Latias Eous in oras
Nunc furor incubuit nee iuncto Sarmata velox
Pannonio Dacisque Getes admixtus : habenti 95

Tam pavidum tibi, Roma, diicem fortuna pepercit,
Quod bellum civile fuit." Sic fatur et urbem
Attonitam terrore subit. Namque ignibus atris
Creditur, ut captae, rapturus moenia Romae
Sparsurasque deos. Fuit haec mensura timoris : 100
Velle putant quodcumque potest. Non omina festa,
Non fictas laeto voces simulare tumultu,
Vix odisse vacat. Phoebea Palatia conplet
Turba patrum nullo cogendi iure senatus

* At the Latin festival ( feriae Latinae).
I20

BOOK III

triumph he lost by adding to his conquests ! No
joyful throngs from the cities met him on his
march ; but men looked on with silent fear ; no
crowd anywhere gathered to meet him. But he was
glad to be so dreaded by his countrymen and would
not have preferred their love.

Now he had passed the heights of Anxur on its
crag, and the spot where a miry way cleaves the
Pomptine marshes ; he had passed the hilly grove
and temple where Scythian Diana reigns, and the
place where the Roman consuls ascend Alba's
height.' At last from a high cliff he caught a
distant view of Rome. Never had he seen it
through all the time of his wars in the North, and
now he gazed in wonder and thus addressed the walls
of Rome, his mother city : " Were you, the abode of
gods, abandoned by men whom no stress of war com-
pelled ? What city then will find arms to strike a
blow for her.'' Heaven be thanked that the furious
East — swift Sarmatians allied with Pannonians, and
Getae combined with Dacians — did not choose this
time to fall on the borders of Italy ! It was a
mercy of Fortune that Rome, with so faint-hearted
a leader, had to fight against Romans only." — With
these words he entered a city paralysed with fear.
For men believed that, as if he had taken Rome,
he would destroy the walls with smoky fires and
hurl her gods hither and thither. The measure
of their fears was this : they deemed that his will
was equal to his power. Their minds are not free
to feign words of good omen or to make pretence
of rejoicing with mirthful shouts ; and scarcely free
p to utter curses. Authority to summon the Senate
was wanting ; but a mob of senators, brought out

121

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

E latebris educta suis ; non consule sacrae 105

Fulserunt sedes, non, proxima lege potestas,

Praetor adest, vacuaeque loco cessere curules.

Omnia Caesar erat ; privatae curia vocis

Testis adest. Sedere patres censere parati,

Si regnum, si templa sibi iugulumque senatus 110

Exiliumque petat. Melius, quod plura iubere

Erubuit, quam Roma pati. Taraen exit in iram,

Viribus an possint obsistere iura, per unum

Libertas experta virum ; pugnaxque Metellus,

Ut videt ingenti Saturnia templa revelli 116

Mole, rapit gressus et Caesans agmina rumpens

Ante fores nondum reseratae constitit aedis,

— Usque adeo solus ferrum mortem que timere

Auri nescit amor. Pereunt discrimine nullo

Amissae leges, sed, pars vilissima rerum, 120

Certamen movistis, opes — prohibensque rapina

Victorem clara testatur voce tribunus :

" Non nisi per nostrum vobis percussa patebunt

Templa latus, nuUasque feres nisi sanguine sacro

Sparsas, raptor, opes. Certe violata potestas 125

Invenit ista deos ; Crassumque in bella secutae

Saeva tribuniciae voverunt proelia dirae.

Detege iam ferrum ; neque enim tibi turba verenda est

Spectatrix scelerum : deserta stamus in urbe.

* This temple was used as the treasury.

* The person of the tribunes was sacred ; yet some of the
noblest among them were murdered by political opponents.

* Crassus was formally cursed by a tribune in November,
55 B.C., when he left Rome for his Parthian campaign.

122

BOOK III

from their hiding-places, filled the temple of
Apollo on the Palatine ; the splendour of the consuls
was absent from their sacred seats ; the praetors,
by law next in office^ were not in attendance, and
the empty chairs of office were removed from their
places. Caesar was all in all, and the Senate met
to register the utterance of a private man. Should
he demand kingly power and divine honours for
himself, or execution and exile for the Senate,
the assembled Fathers were ready to give their
sanction. Fortunately, there were more things that
he was ashamed to decree than Romans were
ashamed to allow. Nevertheless, Freedom did break
out in wrath and tried, in the person of one
man, whether right could resist might. Stubborn
Metellus, when he saw main force used to burst
open the temple of Saturn,^ hurried thither, broke
through the ranks of Caesar's soldiers, and took his
stand at the gates before the locks were broken.
(So true it is that love of money alone is incapable
of dreading death by the sword. When the con-
stitution was lost and destroyed, it made no
difference ; but money, the meanest thing of all,
stirred up strife.) Loudly the tribune protested,
striving to restrain the conqueror from robbery :
** Never, except over my body, shall the temple be
opened to your assault ; no wealth, unless sprinkled
with sacred blood, 2 shall you win by robbery. It is
certain that violence done to this office finds gods
to avenge it ; for the curses of the tribune, which
imprecated defeat upon Crassus, followed Crassus
to the battlefield. 3 Draw your sword at once ;
you need not fear a crowd to witness the crime —
the city in which we stand has been abandoned by

123

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Non feret e nostro sceleratus praeraia miles : 130

Sunt, quos prosternas, populi, quae moenia dones.
Pacis ad exutae ^ spolium non cogit egestas :
Bellum, Caesar, habes." His magnam victor in iram
Vocibus accensus : '' Vanam spem mortis honestae
Concipis : baud " inquit ^^ iugulo se polluet isto 135

Nostra, Metelle, manus ; dignum te Caesaris ira
Nullus honor faciet. Te vindice tuta relicta est
Libertas ? non usque adeo permiscuit imis
Longus summa dies, ut non, si voce Metelli
Servantur leges, malint a Caesare tolli." 140

Dixerat, et nondum foribus cedente tribune
Acrior ira subit : saevos circumspicit enses
Oblitus simulare togam; cum^ Cotta Metellum
Conpulit audaci nimium desistere coepto.
"Libertas" inquit " populi, quern regna coercent, 145
Libertate perit ; cuius servaveris umbram.
Si, quidquid iubeare, velis. Tot rebus iniquis
Paruimus victi ; venia est haec sola pudoris
Degenerisque metus, nullam potuisse negari.
Ocius avertat diri mala semina belli. 150l

Damna movent populos, si quos sua iura tuentur :
Non sibi, sed domino gravis est, quae servit, egestas/
Protinus abducto patuerunt templa Metello.
Tunc rupes Tarpeia sonat magnoque reclusas
Testatur stridore fores ; turn conditus imo 155]

^ exutae Heinsius: exustae and exhaustae MSS,
2 cum Benthy : turn MSS.

124

BOOK III

its people. Your soldiers shall not be paid for their
wickedness out of our wealth ; there are other nations
for you to overthrow, other cities for you to hand
over to them. No poverty forces you to the spolia-
tion of the peace you have cast aside : you have
war to enrich you." His words fired the conqueror
with high indignation. " In vain, Metellus," he
cried, "you hope for a glorious death: never shall
my hand be stained by your blood. No office
shall make you worthy of my wrath. Are you
the champion in whose charge freedom has been
left for safety ? The course of time has not wrought
such confusion that the laws would not rather be
trampled on by Caesar than saved by Metellus."

Thus Caesar spoke ; and when the tribune still
refused to leave the doors, his anger grew fiercer,
and he looked round for his ruthless swords, for-
getting to act the part of peace. But Metellus
was forced by Cotta to renounce his too bold design.
" When a people is held down by tyranny," said
Cotta, " freedom is destroyed by freedom of speech ;
but you keep the semblance of freedom if you
acquiesce in each behest of the tyrant. Because we
^ were conquered, we submitted to repeated acts of
oppression ; for our disgrace and ignoble fear there
is but one excuse — that refusal was in no case
possible. Let Caesar with all speed carry off the
baneful germs of cursed warfare. Loss of money
touches nations that are protected by their own
laws ; but the poverty of slaves is felt by their
master, not by themselves." Metellus was drawn
aside and the temple at once thrown open. Then
the Tarpeian rock re-echoed, and loud grating bore
witness to the opening of the doors ; then was

125

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Rriiitur templo miiltis non tactus ab annis
Romani census populi, quem Punica bella.
Quern dederat Perses, quem victi praeda Philippi,
Quod tibi, Roma, fuga Gallus ^ trepidante reliquit^,
Quo te Fabricius regi non vendidit auro, 160

Quidquid parcorum mores servastis avorum.
Quod dites Asiae populi misere tributum
Victorique dedit Minoia Creta Metello,
Quod Cato longinqua vexit super aequora Cypro.
Tunc Orientis opes captorumque ultima reguin 166

Quae Pompeianis praelata est gaza triumphis,
Egeritur ; tristi spoliantur templa rapina,
Pauperiorque fuit tunc primum Caesare Roma.

Interea totum Magni fortuna per orbem
Secum casuras in proelia moverat urbes. 170

Proxima vicino vires dat Graecia bello.
Phocaicas Amphissa manus scopulosaque Cirrha
Parnasosque iugo misit desertus utroque.
Boeoti coiere duces, quos inpiger ambit
Fatidica Cephisos aqua Cadmeaque Dirce, 175

Pisaeaeque manus populisque per aequora mittens
Sicaniis Alpheos aquas. Turn Maenala liquit
Areas et Herculeam miles Trachinius Octen.
Thesproti Dryopesque ruunt, quercusque silentes
Chaonio veteres liquerunt vertice Selloe. 180

Exhausit totas quamvis dilectus Athenas,
Exiguae Phoebea tenent navalia puppes,

* Gallus Housman : Pyrrhus MS8,

* BrcnnuR. ^ Pyrrhus.

3 It often happened later, notably under Augustus, that the
State was poorer than its ruler.

* The oracle of Dodona had been destroyed.

^ ApoUonia, a harbour in Epirus, was occupied by some of
Pompey's ships.
T26

BOOK III

brought forth the wealth of the Roman people,
stored in the temple vaults and untouched for many
a year — treasure from the Punic wars and Parses,
and the spoil of conquered Philip ; the gold that
the Gaul^ in his hasty flight forfeited to Rome,
and the gold that could not bribe Fabricius to
sell Rome to the king 2 ; all that the thrift of our
ancestors saved up ; all the tribute paid by the
wealthy nations of Asia, and all that was handed over
to conquering Metellus by Minoan Crete ; and the
store that Cato brought across the sea from distant
Cyprus. Lastly, the riches of the East were brought
to light, the far-fetched treasure of captive kings
that was borne along in Pompey's triumph. Dismal
was the deed of plunder that robbed the temple ;
and then for the first time Rome was poorer than a
Caesar. 8

Meanwhile over all the earth the reputation of
Magnus had brought forth to battle nations doomed
to share his fall. Greece, the nearest country, sent
soldiers for her neighbour's war. From Phocis, Am-
phissa sent her men, and rocky Cirrha ; and both
peaks of Parnassus were abandoned. The leaders
of Boeotia ' assembled, men whom swift Cephisus
surrounds with its oracular stream and Cadmean
Dirce ; there were men from Pisa and the Alpheus
which transmits its waters under the sea to the
people of Sicily. Maenalus also was left behind by
the Arcadians, and Oeta of Hercules by the soldiers
of Trachis. Thesprotians and Dryopes rush to war,
and the ancient Selloi left their silent oaks * on the
hill of Chaonia. Though Athens was drained of all
her men by the levy, few were her vessels that
reached the harbour of Apollo,^ and but three keels

127

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Tresque petunt veram credi SaLamina carinae.

lam dilecta lovi centenis venit in arma

Creta vetus populis Giiososque agitare pharetras 185

Docta nee Eois peior Gortyna sagittis.

Tunc qui Dardaniam tenet Oricon et vagus altis

Dispersus silvis Athaman et nomine prisco

Encheliae versi testantes funera Cadmi,

Colchis et Hadriaca spumans Absyrtos in unda ; 190

Penei qui rura colunt, quorumque labore

Thessalus Haemoniam vomer proscindit lolcon.

(Inde lacessitum primo mare, cum rudis Argo

Miscuit ignotas temerato litore gentes

Primaque cum ventis pelagique furentibus undis 195

Conposuit mortale genus, fatisque per illam

Accessit mors una ratem.) Tum linquitur Haemus

Thracius et populum Pholoe mentita biformem.

Deseritur Strymon tepido committere Nile

Bistonias consuetus aves et barbara Cone, 200

Sarmaticas ubi perdit aquas sparsamque ])rofundo

Multifidi Peucen unum caput adluit Histri,

Mysiaque et gelido tellus perfusa Caico

Idalis et nimium glaebis exilis Arisbe ;

Quique colunt Pitanen et, quae tua munera, Pallas, 205

Lugent damnatae Plioebo victore Celaenae,

Qua celer et rectis descendens Marsya ripis

Errantem Maeandron adit mixtusque refertur,

Passaque ab auriferis tellus exire metallis

^ He was changed into a snake : eyx^Avs is properly " an eel."

'-^ The Centaurs, who united the head and arms of a man to
the body of a horse.

^ The cranes from Thrace.

* Pallas invented the flute and then threw it away. The
Satyr Marsyas of Celaenae picked it up and challenged Apollo
to a match ; he was defeated and liayed by his rival.

128

BOOK III

claim credence for the tale of Salamis. Next to
join the fray was Crete, the ancient island of a
hundred peoples, a land dear to Zeus, with Gnosos
skilled to ply the bow, and Gortyna rivalling the
Parthian archers. These were followed by the men
who dwell in Trojan Oricos, the Athamanes who
rove scattered in mountain forests, and the Encheliae,
whose ancient name testifies to the death and trans-
formation of Cadmus.^ Colchian Absyrtos that foams
in the Adriatic sea came also, and the men who till
the fields about Peneus, and those by whose toil
Thessalian ploughs turn up the soil of Haemonian
lolcos. (From lolcos the sea was first challenged,
when the untried Argo scorned the shore and
brought together nations that before were strangers ;
she first matched mankind against the raging winds
and waves of ocean, and by her means a new form
of death was added to the old.) Next, Mount
Haemus in Thrace was abandoned, and Pholoe with
its false legend of a twy-formed people. ^ Strymon
was left deserted — Strymon that each year entrusts
to the warm Nile the birds of Bistonia ; ^ and rude
Cone, where one mouth of the branching Danube
loses its Sarmatian waters and washes Peuce sprinkled
by the sea. Mysia was deserted, and the land of
Idalus, saturated with the cold waters of Caicus,
and Arisbe, whose soil is all too shallow. The
people of Pitane assembled, and of Celaenae that
mourns the invention of Pallas^Celaenae con-
demned when Apollo won the match;* in that land
the Marsya, running swiftly down in straight channel,
joins the winding Maeander and turns back after
their union ; and there earth has suffered Pactolus
to issue forth from mines rich in gold, and Hermus,

129

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Pactolon, qua culta secat non vilior Hermus. 210

Iliacae quoque signa manus perituraque castra
Ominibus petiere suis, nee fabula Troiae
Continuit Phrygiique ferens se Caesar luli.
Accedunt Syriae populi : desertus Orontes
Et felix, sic fama, Ninos, ventosa Damascos 216

Gazaque et arbusto palmarum dives Idume
Et Tyros instabilis pretiosaque murice Sidon.
Has ad bella rates non flexo limite ponti
Certior baud ullis duxit Cynosura carinis.
(Phoenices primi, famae si creditur, ausi 220

Mansuram rudibus vocem signare figuris :
Nondum flumineas Memphis contexere biblos
Noverat, et saxis tantum volucresque feraeque
Sculptaque servabant magicas animalia linguas).
Deseritur Taurique nemus Perseaque Tarsos 225

Coryciumque patens exesis rupibus antrum ;
Mallos et extremae resonant navalibus Aegae,
Itque Cilix iusta, iam non pirata, carina.
Movit et Eoos bellorum fama recessus.
Qua colitur Ganges, toto qui solus in orbe 230

Ostia nascenti contraria solvere Phoebo
Audet et adversum fluctus inpellit in Eurum,
Hie ubi Pellaeus post Tethyos aequora ductor
Constitit et magno vinci se fassus ab orbe est ;
Quaque ferens rapidum diviso gurgite fontem 235

Vastis Indus aquis mixtum non sentit Hydaspen ;

^ Tyre was notorious for earthquakes. Ninos (Nineveh) had
long been destroyed.
* To make papyrus.
' In point of fact Alexander never reached the Ganges.

130

BOOK III

rich as Pactolus, cleaves the corn-lands. The soldiers
of Ilium also, ever ill-fated, joined the standards of
the doomed army, undeterred by the tale of Troy
or the pretended descent of Caesar from Trojan
lulus. The nations of Syria came also, leaving be-
hind the Orontes, and Ninos of whose prosperity
legend tells ; they left wind-swept Damascus, Gaza,
Idume rich in palm-plantations, tottering Tyre,^ and
Sidon precious for its purple. Their ships were
steered to war by the pole-star and kept an un-
erring course over the sea : to no ships is the pole-
star a more trusty guide than to them. (These
Phoenicians first made bold, if report speak true,
to record speech in rude characters for future ages,
before Egypt had learned to fasten together the
reeds of her river,^ and when only the figures of
birds, beasts, and other animals, carved in stone,
preserved the utterances of her wise men.) Men
left the woods of Taurus, and Tarsos where Perseus
alighted, and the Corycian cave that yawns with
hollowed rocks. Mallos and distant Aegae are filled
with the noise of their dockyards ; and the Cilicians,
no longer pirates, put forth in regular ships of war.
The news of war roused also the distant parts of
the East, where Ganges and its peoples are — Ganges,
the one river on earth that dares to unlock its
mouths opposite the rising sun and drives its flood
forward in the teeth of the East wind ; here it was
that the Macedonian captain ^ halted, with the outer
Ocean in front of him, and confessed that he was
beaten by the vastness of the world. Roused was
the land where the Indus, bearing along its swift
stream with two-fold flood, is unchanged by the
addition of the Hydaspes to its waste of waters.

131

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Quiqiie bibunt tenera dulces ab harundine sucos,

Et qui tinguentes croceo niedicamine crinem

Fluxa coloratis astringunt carbasa gemmis,

Quique suas struxere pyras vivique calentes 240

Conscendere rogos. Pro, quanta est gloria genti

Iniecisse nianum fatis vitaque repletos

Quod superest donasse deis ! Venere feroces

Cappadoces, duri populus non cultor Amani,

Armeniusque tenens volventem saxa Niphaten. 245

Aethera tangentes silvas liquere Choatrae.

Ignotum vobis, Arabes, venistis in orbem

Umbras mirati nemorum non ire sinistras.

Turn furor extremos movit Romanus Orestas

Carmanosque duces (quorum iam flexus in Austrum 250

Aether non totani mergi tamen aspicit Arcton ;

Lucet et exigua velox ibi nocte Bootes),

Aethiopumque solum, quod non premeretur ab ulla

Signiferi regione poii, nisi poplite lapso

Ultima curvati procederet ungula Tauri ; 255

Quaque caput rapido tollit cum Tigride magnus

Euphrates, quos non diversis fontibus edit

Persis, et incertum, tellus si misceat amnes,

Quod potius sit nomen aquis. Sed sparsus in agros

Fertilis Euphrates Phariae vice fungitur undae ; 2G0

At Tigrim subito tellus absorbet hiatu

Occultosque tegit cursus rursusque renatum

Fonte novo flumen pelagi non abnegat undis.

Inter Caesareas acies diversaque signa

^ The sugar-cane is meant. * I.e., to the South.

' See Housman, p. 327 : the translation given liere follows his.

132

BOOK III

Up rose the men who drink sweet juices from soft
reeds ; ^ and those who colour their hair with saffron
dye and loop up their robes of cotton with bright-
Imed gems; and those who build pyres for them-
selves and climb, while yet alive, upon the burning
heap. How glorious for a people to lay violent
hands on death, and, when satiated with life, to
refuse the remnant of it from the gods ! The savage
Cappadocians came ; and the men who find the soil
of Mount Amanus too hard to till ; and the Ar-
menians, who dwell where the Niphates rolls along
boulders in its course. The Choatrae abandoned
their forests that reach the sky; the Arabs entered
a world unknown to them, and marvelled that the
shadows of the trees did not fall to the left.^ The
remote Orestae too were disturbed by the madness
of Rome, and the chiefs of Carmania — where the
sky, beginning to incline southwards, sees part at
least of the Bear sink below the horizon, and where
Bootes, swift to set, is visible only for a short portion
of the night — and the land of Aethiopia, which would
not be covered by any part of the Zodiac, did not
the leg of hunched-up Taurus give way and the tip
of his hoof project ;^ and the land where the mighty
Euphrates and rushing Tigris uplift their heads.
They rise in Persia from springs not far apart ; and,
if earth suffered them to meet, who can say which
of the names the waters would bear? But the
Euphrates, diffused over the land, fertilises it as the
Nile fertilises Egypt ; whereas the Tigris is suddenly
swallowed up by a chasm in the earth, which hides
its course from the eye, but then gives birth to it
again from a new source and suffers the river to
reach the sea. The warlike Parthians remained

^33

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Pugnaces dubium Parthi tenuere favorem, 265

Contenti fecisse duos. Tinxere sagittas

Errantes Scythiae populi, quos gurgite Bactros

Includit gelido vastisque Hyrcania silvis.

Hinc Lacedaemonii, moto gens aspera freno,

Heniochi saevisque adfinis Sarmata Moschis ; 270

Colchorum qua rura secat ditissima Phasis,

Qua Croeso fatalis Halys, qua vertice lapsus

Riphaeo Tanais diversi nomina mundi

Inposuit ripis Asiaeque et terminus idem

Europae, mediae dirimens confinia terrae, 276

Nunc hunc, nunc ilium, qua flectitur, ampliat orbem ;

Quaque, fretum torrens, Maeotidos egerit undas

Pontus, et Herculeis aufertur gloria metis,

Oceanumque negant solas admittere Gades.

Hinc Essedoniae gentes auroque ligatas 280

Substringens, Arimaspe, comas ; hinc fortis Arius

Longaque Sarmatici solvens ieiunia belli

Massagetes, quo fugit, equo volucresque Geloni.

Non, cum Memnoniis deducens agmina regnis

Cyrus et effusis numerato milite talis 286

Descendit Perses, fraternique ultor amoris

Aequora cum tantis percussit classibus, unum

Tot reges habuere ducem, coiere nee umquam

Tam variae cyltu gentes, tam dissona volgi

* By killing Crassus, the third member of the triumvirate.

^ The Sea of Azov (Palus Maeotis) was supposed to have an
outlet to the Arctic Ocean.

3 Darts, one thrown by each man, were counted.

* Agamemnon, who tpok vengeance for his brother Menelaus.

»34

BOOK III

neutral between the army of Caesar and the host
opposed to him : it was enough for them that they
had reduced the rivals to two.^ The nomad peoples
of Scythia, bounded by the cold stream of Bactros
and the endless forests of Hyrcania, dipped their
arrows in poison. From one quarter came the
Heniochi of Spartan blood, a dangerous people when
they shake their bridles, and the Sarmatians, akin to
the savage Moschi. Men came from the regions
where the Phasis cleaves the rich land of the Col-
chians, where flows the Halys that brought doom to
Croesus, and where the Tanais, falling down from
the Riphaean heights, gives the names of two worlds
to its two banks, bounding Asia and Europe as
well — it keeps the central part of earth from union,
and, according to its windings, enlarges now one
continent and now the other — and where the Euxine
drains the rushing waters of the Maeotian Mere
through the strait; and thus men deny that Gades
alone lets in the Ocean ,2 and the Pillars of Hercules
are robbed of their boast. From another quarter
came the Essedonian tribes, the Arimaspians who
loop up their hair bound with gold, the brave Arians,
the Massagetae who break the long fast of battle
with Sarmatians by bleeding the horse that bore
them from the fight, and the fleet Geloni. Neither
Cyrus, when he led his host from the land of morn-
ing and the Persians came down with an army that
was numbered by the casting of darts ,^ nor he that
avenged his brother's wrong * — neither of these
smote the sea with such mighty fleets; never did
so many kings obey a single leader, never did
nations meet so different in dress, never was there
such a confusion of tongues. Fortune roused all

^35

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Ora. Tot inmensae comites missura ruinae 290

Excivit populos et dignas funere Magni
Exequias fortuna dedit. Non corniger Hammon
Mittere Marmaricas cessavit in arma catervas,
Quidquid ab occiduis Libye patet arida Mauris
Usque Paraetonias eoa ad litora Syrtes. 295

Acciperet felix ne non semel omnia Caesar,
Vincendum pariter Pharsalia praestitit orbem.

Ille ubi deseruit trepidantis moenia Romae,
Agmine nubiferam rapto super evolat Alpem,
Cumque alii famae populi terrore paverent, 3u0

Phocais in dubiis ausa est servare iuventus
Non Graia levitate fidem signataque iura,
Et causas, non fata, sequi. Tamen ante furorem
Indomitum duramque viri deflectere mentem
Pacifico sermone parant hostemque propinquum 305

Orant Cecropiae praelata fronde Miner vae :

"Semper in externis populo communia vestro
Massiliam bellis testatur fata tulisse,
Conprensa est Latiis quaecumque annalibus aetas.
Et nunc, ignoto si quos petis orbe triumphos, 310

Accipe devotas externa in proelia dextras.
At, si funestas acies, si dira paratis
Proelia discordes, lacrimas civilibus armis
Secretumque damns. Tractentur volnera nulla
Sacra manu. Si caelicolis furor arma dedisset, 315

Aut si terrigenae temptarent astra gigantes,
Non tamen auderet pietas humana vel armis
Vel votis prodesse lovi, sortisque deorum

1 Massilia (Marseilles) was founded by Greeks, emigrants
from Phocaea in Asia Minor.
' Olive-branches.

136

BOOK III

those peoples, to send them as escort for measureless
disaster, and provided them as a funeral train be-
fitting the burial of Magnus. Nor was horned
Ammon slow to send to battle African squadrons
from the whole extent of parched Libya — from the
Moors in the West to Egyptian Syrtes on the eastern
coast. That Caesar, favoured by Fortune, might win
all at a single cast, Pharsalia presented him the
whole world to conquer at once.

When Caesar left the walls of terrified Rome, he
rushed with swift march over the cloud-capped Alps.
Though other peoples cowered at the terror of his
name, the Phocaean^ warriors, with steadfastness
rare in Greeks, dared to be faithful in the hour of
danger to their solemn compacts, and to follow the
right rather than fortune. But first they tried by
peaceable argument to turn aside the reckless rage
and stern heart of Caesar ; and when the enemy
drew near, they appealed to him thus, holding out
before them the leaves ^ of Athenian Minerva :

*^ Every age included in ItaHan history bears
witness that Massilia has shared the fortunes of the
Roman people in their foreign wars. And now too,
if you seek triumphs in some unknown region, here
at your service are our swords to fight against the
foreigner. But if Romans are divided, and if you
purpose ill-omened battles and accursed strife, then
we offer tears for civil war, and we stand aside. No
other hand should meddle with the wounds of gods.
If frenzy had armed the immortals, or if the earth-
born Giants assailed the sky, the piety of man,
nevertheless, would shrink from aiding Jupiter either
with arms or with prayers ; and the human race,
ignorant of what was happening in heaven, would

137

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Ignarum mortale genus per fulmina tantum

Sciret adhuc caelo solum regnare Tonantem. 320

Adde, quod innumerae concurrunt undique gentes,

Nee sic horret iners scelerum contagia mundus,

Ut gladiis egeant civilia bella coactis.

Sit mens ista quidem cunctis, ut vestra recusent

Fata, nee haec alius committat proelia miles. 325

Cui non conspecto languebit dextra parente

Telaque diversi prohibebunt spargere fratres ?

Finis adest scelerum,^ si non committitis ullis

Arma, quibus fas est. Nobis haec summa precandi :

Terribiles aquilas infestaque signa relinquas 330

Urbe procul nostrisque velis te credere muris,

Excludique sinas admisso Caesare bellum.

Sit locus exceptus sceleri, Magnoque tibique

Tutus, ut, invictae fatum si consulat urbi,

Foedera si placeant, sit, quo veniatis inermes. 335

Vel, cum tanta vocent discrimina Martis Hiberi,

Quid rapidum deflectis iter ? non pondera rerimi

Nee momenta sumus, numquam felicibus armis

Usa manus, patriae primis a sedibus exul,

Et post translatas exustae Phocidos arces 340

Moenibus exiguis alieno in litore tuti,

Inlustrat quos sola fides. Si claudere muros

Obsidione paras et vi perfringere portas,

Excepisse faces tectis et tela parati,

Undarum raptos aversis fontibus haustus 345

1 scelerum Schroder; rerum M88.

1 That is, soldiers who are not Romans.

2 By an error which is often repeated in the context, Phocis in
Greece is confused with Phocaea in Asia.

138

BOOK III

know only from his thunderbolts that the Thunderer
still reigned in the sky without a rival. Moreover,
countless nations are speeding to the fray from every
quarter; nor is mankind so slow to fight, so averse
to the contagion of crime, that civil war need compel
recruits. We wish indeed that all men had this
purpose — to refuse a share in Roman destiny, and
that no foreign soldier should fight in your quarrel.
What Roman arm will not be enfeebled by the sight
of his father ? who will not be hindered from hurling
his weapon when he sees his brothers in the ranks of
the foe } The civil war will soon end, if you refrain
from enlisting those whom alone it is lawful to
enlist.^ For ourselves, this is the sum total of our
petition : leave your dreaded eagles, your formidable
j; standards, at a distance from our city, and be willing
to trust yourself within our walls; permit us to
let Caesar in and keep war out. Let there be one
spot exempt from crime, safe for Magnus and safe
for you. So, if Fortune is merciful to unconquered
Rome and peace is resolved upon, you two will have
a place where you can meet unarmed. Again, when
you are summoned to Spain by so great a crisis of
the war, why do you turn hither your hasty march }
We have no weight in affairs, no power to turn the
scale. Our people has never been victorious in war.
Driven from the ancient seat of our nation, when
Phocis^ was burnt down and her towers were removed,
we dwell on a foreign shore and owe our safety to
narrow walls ; and our only glory is our fidelity. If
you intend to blockade our walls and break down
our gates by storm, then we are ready : we shall
receive firebrands and missiles upon our houses ; if
you divert our springs, we shall dig for a hasty

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Quaerere et efFossam sitientes lambere terram,

Et, desit si larga Ceres, tunc horrida cerni

Foedaque contingi maculato attingere morsu.

Nee pavet hie populus pro libertate subire,

Obsessum Poeno gessit quae Marte Saguntum. 360

Pectoribus rapti matrum frustraque trahentes

Ubera sicca fame medios mittentur in ignes.

Uxor et a caro poscet sibi fata marito,

Volnera miscebunt fratres bellumque coacti

Hoc potius civile gerent." Sic Graia iuventus 355

Finierat, cum turbato iam prodita voltu

Ira ducis tandem testata est voce dolorem :

" Vana movet Graios nostri fiducia cursus.
Quamvis Hesperium mundi properemus ad axem,
Massiliam delere vacat. Gaudete, cohortes : 360

Obvia praebentur fatorum munere bella.
Ventus ut amittit vires, nisi robore densae
Occurrunt silvae, spatio diffusus inani,
Utque perit magnus nullis obstantibus ignis,
Sic hostes mihi desse nocet, damnumque putamus 365
Armorum, nisi qui vinci potuere rebellant.
Sed si solus earn dimissis degener armis.
Tunc mihi tecta patent. Iam non excludere tantum,
Inclusisse volunt. At enim contagia belli
Dira fugant. Dabitis poenas pro pace petita, 370

Et nihil esse meo discetis tutius aevo
Quam duce me bellum." Sic postquam fatus, ad urbem

* 8aguntum in Spain claimed, like Massilia, to be of Greek
origin. It was taken by Hannibal in 218 b.c. after a memorable
siege.

140

BOOK III

draught of water and lick with parched tongues the
earth we have dug; and, if bread run short, then
we shall pollute our lips by gnawing things hideous
to see and foul to touch. In defence of freedom we
do not shrink from sufferings that were bravely borne
by Saguntuni ^ when beset by the army of Carthage.
Our infants, torn from their mothers' arms and
tugging in vain at breasts dry with famine, shall be
hurled into the midst of the flames ; wives shall
seek death at the hands of loved husbands ; brother
shall exchange wounds with brother, and shall
choose, if driven to it, that form of civil war." Thus
tiie Greeks ended speaking, and Caesar's wrath,
betrayed already by his clouded countenance, at last
proved his resentment by s])okcn word :
" '* These Greeks trust to my haste, but their trust
is vain ; though I am hastening to the western
region of the world, I have time to destroy Massilia.
Rejoice, my soldiers ! By favour of destiny war is
offered you in the course of your march. As a gale,
unless it meets with thick-timbered forests, loses
strength and is scattered through empty space, and
as a great fire sinks when there is nothing in its way
— so the absence of a foe is destructive to me, and I
think my arms wasted if those who might have been
conquered fail to fight against me. They say that
their city is open to me if I disband my army and
enter alone and degraded. Their real purpose is
not merely to keep me out, but to shut me in. They
say that they seek to drive away the horrid taint of
war. They shall suffer for seeking peace ; they shall
learn that in my days none are safe but those who
fight under my banner." With these words he
turned his march against the citizens who feared

141

M. ANNAEUS LUGANUS

Haud trepidam convertit iter ; cum moenia clausa
Conspicit et densa iuvenum vallata corona.

Haud procul a muris tumulus surgentis in altum 375
Telluris parvum difFuso vertice campum
Explicat ; haec patiens longo munimine cingi
Visa duci rupes titisque aptissima castris.
Proxima pars urbis celsam consurgit in arcem
Par tumulo, mediisque sedent convallibus arva. »80

Tunc res inmenso placuit statura labore,
Aggere diversos vasto committere colles.
Sed prius, ut totam, qua terra cingitur, urbem
Clauderet, a summis perduxit ad aequora castris
Longum Caesar opus, fontesque et pabula campi 385
Amplexus fossa densas tollentia pinnas
Caespitibus crudaque extruxit bracchia terra.

lam satis hoc Graiae memorandum contigit urbi
Aeternumque decus, quod non inpulsa nee ipso
Strata metu tenuit flagrantis in omnia belli 390

Praecipitem cursum, raptisque a Caesare cunctis
Vincitur una mora. Quantum est, quod fata tenentur,
Quodque virum toti properans inponere mundo
Hos perdit Fortuna dies ! Tunc omnia late
Procumbunt nemora et spoliantur robore silvae, 396

Ut, cum terra levis mediam virgultaque molem
Suspendant, struct a laterum conpage ligatam
Artet humum, pressus ne cedat turribus agger.

Lucus erat longo numquam violatus ab aevo,
Obscurum cingens conexis aera ramis 400

142

BOOK III

him not ; and then he saw the walls closed and
fenced with a crowded ring of warriors.

Not far from the walls a hill rose above the
level land and expanded into a small plain at its
flattened top. This height seemed to Caesar capable
of being surrounded by a line of fortifications, and a
safe site to pitch his camp. The nearest part of the
town rises in a lofty citadel as high as the hill
outside, and the land between sinks in hollows.
Then Caesar decided on a plan that would cost
endless toil — to join the opposing heights by an
immense rampart of earth. But first, in order to
blockade the town entirely on its landward side, he
carried a long line of works from his lofty camp to
the sea, cutting off by a trench the water-springs
and pasture-land ; and with turf and freshly dug
soil he built up his lines, crowned by frequent
battlements.

For the Greek city this alone was fame enough
and immortal glory — that she was not overborne or
laid low by mere terror, but arrested the headlong
rush of war blazing over the world ; that, when
Caesar made short work with all else, she alone took
time to conquer. It was a great thing to hinder
destiny, and to cause Fortune, in her haste to set
Caesar above all the world, to lose those days. Now
all the woods were felled and the forests stripped of
their timber far and wide ; for, since light earth and
brushwood made the mid-structure loose, the timber
was intended to compress and bind the soil by the
carpentry of the sides, and to keep the mound from
sinking under the weight of the towers.

A grove there was, untouched by men's hands
from ancient times, whose interlacing boughs enclosed

M3

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Et gelidas alte summotis solibus umbras.
Hunc non ruricolae Panes nemorumque potentes
Silvani Nyraphaeque tenent, sed barbara ritu
Sacra deum ; structae diris altaribus arae,
Omnisque humanis lustrata cruoribus arbor.
Siqua fidem meruit superos mirata vetustas,
Illis et volucres metuunt insistere ramis
Et lustris recubare ferae ; nee ventus in illas
Incubuit silvas excussaque nubibus atris
Fulgura; non ulli frondem praebentibus aurae
Arboribus suus horror inest. Tum plurima nigris
Fontibus unda cadit, simulacraque maesta deorum
Arte carent caesisque extant informia truneis.
Ipse situs putrique facit iam robore pallor
Attonitos ; non volgatis sacra ta figuris
Numina sic metuunt : tantum terroribus addit,
Quos timeant, non nosse deos. Iam fama ferebat
Saepe cavas motu terrae mugire cavernas,
Et procumbentes iterum consurgere taxos,
Et non ardentis fulgere incendia silvae,
Roboraque amplexos circumfluxisse dracones.
Non ilium cultu populi propiore frequentant
Sed cessere deis. Medio cum Phoebus in axe est
Aut caelum nox atra tenet, pavet ipse sacerdos
Accessus dominumque timet deprendere luci.

Hanc iubetinmisso silvam procumbere ferro ;
Nam vicina operi belloque intacta priore
Inter nudatos stabat densissima montes,
Sed fortes tremuere manus, motique verenda

144

BOOK III

a space of darkness and cold shade, and banished the
sunlight far above. No rural Pan dwelt there, no
Silvanus, ruler of the woods, no Nymphs ; but gods
were worshipped there with savage rites, the altars
were heaped with hideous offerings, and every tree
was sprinkled with human gore. On those boughs
— if antiquity, reverential of the gods, deserves any
credit — birds feared to perch ; in those coverts wild
beasts would not lie down ; no wind ever bore down
upon that wood, nor thunderbolt hurled from black
clouds ; the trees, even when they spread their
leaves to no breeze, rustled of themselves. Water,
also, fell there in abundance from dark springs.
The images of the gods, grim and rude, were uncouth
blocks formed of felled tree-trunks. Their mere
antiquity and the ghastly hue of their rotten timber
struck terror ; men feel less awe of deities worshipped
under familiar forms ; so much does it increase their
sense of fear, not to know the gods whom they
dread. Legend also told that often the subterranean
hollows quaked and bellowed, that yew-trees fell down
and rose again, that the glare of conflagration came
from trees that were not on fire, and that serpents
twined and glided round the stems. The people
never resorted thither to worship at close quarters,
but left the place to the gods. For, when the sun
is in mid-heaven or dark night fills the sky, the
priest himself dreads their approach and fears to
surprise the lord of the grove.

This grove was sentenced by Caesar to fall before
the stroke of the axe ; for it grew near his works.
Spared in earlier warfare, it stood there covered
with trees among hills already cleared. But strong
arms faltered ; and the men, awed by the solemnity

145

VOL. I. F

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Maiestate loci, si robora sacra ferirent, 430

In sua credebant redituras membra secures.

Inplicitas magno Caesar torpore cohortes

Ut vidit, primus raptam librare bipennem

Ausus et aeriam ferro proscindere quercum

EfFatur merso violata in robora ferro : 436

" lam ne quis vestrum dubitet subvertere silvam,

Credite me fecisse nefas." Turn paruit omnis

Imperiis non sublato secura pavore

Turba, sed expensa superorum et Caesaris ira.

Procumbunt orni, nodosa inpellitur ilex, 440

Silvaque Dodones et Huctibus aptior alnus

Et non plebeios luctus testata cupressus

Tum primum posuere comas et fronde carentes

Admisere diem, propulsaque robcu'e denso

Sustinuit se silva cadens. Gemuere videntes 445

Gallorum populi ; muris sed clausa iuventus

Exultat ; quis enim laesos inpune putaret

Esse deos ? Servat multos fortuna nocentes,

Et tantum miseris irasci numina possunt.

Utque satis caesi nemoris, quaesita per agros 450

Plaustra ferunt, curvoque soli cessantis aratro

Agricolae raptis annum flevere iuvencis.

Dux tamen inpatiens haesuri ad moenia Martis
Versus ad Hispanas acies extremaque mundi
lussit bella geri. Stellatis axibus agger 455

Erigitur geminasque aequantes nwenia turres

* Cyparissus, son of King Telephus, was changed into 4
cypress

146

BOOK III

and terror of the place, believed that, if they aimed
a blow at the sacred trunks, their axes would rebound
against their own limbs. When Caesar saw that his
soldiers were sore hindered and paralysed, he was
the first to snatch an axe and swing it, and dared to
cleave a towering oak with the steel : driving the
blade into the desecrated wood, he cried : " Believe
that I am guilty of sacrilege, and thenceforth none
of you need fear to cut down the trees." Then all
the men obeyed his bidding ; they were not easy in
their minds, nor had their fears been removed ; but
they had weighed Caesar's wrath against the wrath
of heaven. Ash trees were felled, gnarled holm-
oaks overthrown ; Dodona's oak, the alder that suits
the sea, the cypress that bears witness to a monarch's
grief,^ all lost their leaves for the first time ; robbed
of their foliage, they let in the daylight; and the
toppling wood, when smitten, supported itself by
the close growth of its timber. The peoples of Gaul
groaned at the sight ; but the besieged men rejoiced;
for who could have supposed that the injury to the
gods would go unpunished ? But Fortune often guards
the guilty, and the gods must reserve their wrath
for the unlucky. When wood enough was felled,
waggons were sought through the countryside to
convey it; and the husbandmen, robbed of their
oxen, mourned for the harvest of the soil left
untouched by the crooked plough.

But Caesar could not brook this protracted warfare
before the walls : he turned to the army in Spain
and the limits of the world, leaving orders that the
operations should go on. The mound was built up
with planks arranged lattice-wise, and two towers,
as high as the town walls, were placed upon it ; the

147

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Accipit ; hae nullo fixerunt robore terram

Sed per iter longum causa repsere latenti.

Cum tantum nutaret onus^ telluris inanes

Coiicussisse sinus quaerentem erumpere ventum 460

Credidit et muros mirata est stare iuventus.

Illinc tela cadunt excelsas urbis in arces.

Sed maior Graio Romana in corpora ferro

Vis inerat. Nee enim solis excussa lacertis

Lancea^ sed tenso ballistae turbine rapta, 465

Haud unum contenta latus transire quiescit,

Sed pandens perque arma viam perque ossa relicta

Morte fugit : superest telo post volnera cursus.

At saxum quotiens ingenti verberis actu

Excutitur, qualis rupes, quam vertice mentis 470

Abscidit in[)ulsu ventorum adiuta vetustas,

Frangit cuncta ruens nee tantum corpora pressa

Exanimat, totos cum sanguine dissipat artus.

Ut tamen hostiles densa testudine muros

Tecta subit virtus, armisque innexa priores 475

Arma ferunt, galeamque extensus protegit umbo,

Quae prius ex longo nocuerunt missa recessu,

lam post terga cadunt. Nee Grais flectere iactum

Aut facilis labor est longinqua ad tela parati

Tormenti mutare modum ; sed pondere solo 480

Content! nudis evolvunt saxa lacertis.

Dum fuit armorum series, ut grand in e tecta

Innocua percussa sonant, sic omnia tela

Respuit ; at postquam virtus incerta virorum

* They moved on rollers.

2 The formation called testudo (tortoise), in which the ov
lapping shields protect the men below.

148

3

BOOK III

timber of the towers was not driven into the ground,
but they crawled from far, moved by hidden means. ^
When the tall structure nodded, the besieged
believed that wind, seeking to burst forth, had
shaken the hollow caverns of the earth, and mar-
velled that their walls remained standing. From
the towers missiles were thrown against the lofty
citadel of the town. But the shot of the Greeks
fell with greater force on the bodies of the Romans ;
for their javelins, not sped merely by men's arms, but
hurled by the tension of the powerful catapult, pierced
more than one body before they were willing to
stop : through armour and through bones they cleft
a broad way and passed on, leaving death behind
them ; after dealing its wound the weapon flew on.
And every boulder launched by the mighty impulse
of a released cord, like a crag which length of time,
aided by the blast of the winds, tears from a moun-
tain-top, broke all things in its course, not merely
crushing out the lives of its victims, but annihilating
limbs and blood together. But when brave men
approached the enemy's wall in close formation^ —
the foremost carrying shields which overlapped the
shields of those behind, and their helmets protected
by the roof of bucklers — then the missiles which had
dealt death at long range, flew over their heads ;
nor was it easy for the Greeks to shift the range or
change the aim of engines made to hurl their bolts
to a distance ; and so they heaved over boulders
with unaided arms, relying on the weight alone.
The locking of the shields, while it continued, flung
off every missile, just as a roof rattles under the
harmless blows of hail ; but when the weariness and
wavering valour of the soldiers made gaps in the

149

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Perpetuam rupit defesso milite cratem.
Singula continuis cesserunt ictibus arma.
Tunc adoperta levi procedit vinea terra.
Sub cuius pluteis et tecta fronte latentes
Moliri nunc ima parant et vertere ferro
Moenia ; nunc aries suspense fortior ictu
Incussus densi conpagem solvere muri
Temptat et inpositis unum subducere saxis.
Sed super et flammis et magnae fragmine molis
Et sudibus crebris et adusti roboris ictu
Perctissae cedunt crates, frustraque labore
Exhausto fessus repetit tentoria miles.

Summa fuit Grais, starent ut moenia, voti :
Ultro acies inferre parant armisque coruscas
Noeturni texere faces, audaxque iuventus
Erupit. Non hasta viris, non letifer arcus,
Telum flamma fuit, rapiensque incendia ventus
Per Romana tulit celeri munimina cursu.
Nee, quamvis viridi luctetur robore, lentas
Ignis agit vires, taeda sed raptus ab omni
Consequitur nigri spatiosa volumina fumi.
Nee solum silvas sed saxa ingentia solvit,
Et crudae putri fluxerunt pulvere cautes.
Procubuit maiorque iacens apparuit agger.

Spes victis telluris abit, placuitque profundo
Fortunam temptare maris. Non robore picto
Ornatas decuit fulgens tutela carinas,
Sed rudis et qualis procumbit montibus arbor

* I.e. the mantlets.
150

BOOK III

armament, the shields gave way, one by one, to the
unceasing battery. Next, mantlets, lightly covered
with turf, were brought up; and the besiegers,
screened by the boards and covered fronts of the
mantlets, strove to sap the foundations and upset the
walls with tools of iron ; and now the ram, more
effective with its swinging blow, tries by its impact
to break the solid fabric of the wall and remove one
stone from those laid above it; but smitten from
above by fire and huge jagged stones, by a rain of
stakes and by blows from oaken poles hardened by
fire, the hurdles ^ gave ground, and the besiegers,
foiled after so great an effort, went back weary to
their tents.

The safety of their walls had been the utmost
that the Greeks hoped for ; but now they prepared
to take the offensive. By night they hid flaming
torches behind their shields, and their warriors
boldly sallied forth. The weapon they bore was
neither spear nor death-dealing bow, but fire alone ;
and the wind, whirling the conflagration along, bore
it swiftly over the Roman works. Though con-
tending with green wood, the fire was not slow
to put forth its strength : flying from every torch,
it followed close on huge volumes of black smoke,
and consumed not merely timber but mighty stones ;
and hard rocks were dissolved into crumbling dust.
Down fell the mound, and looked even larger on
the ground.

The defeated Romans despaired of success on
land and resolved to try their fortune on the sea.
Their ships were not adorned with painted timbers
or graced with a glittering figure-head : unshaped
trees, even as they were felled on the hills, were

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Conseritur, stabilis navalibus area bellis.

Et iam turrigeram Bruti comitata carinam

Venerat in fluctus Rhodani cum gurgite classis 615

Stoechados arva tenens. Nee non et Graia iuventus

Omne suum fatis voluit committere robur

Grandaevosque senes mixtis armavit ephebis.

Accepit non sola viros^ quae stabat in undis,

Classis : et emeritas repetunt navalibus alnos. 620

Ut matutinos spargens super aequora Phoebus

Fregit aquis radios et liber nubibus aether

Et posito Borea pacemque tenentibus Austris

Servatuni bello iaeuit mare, movit ab omni

Quisque suam statione ratem, paribusque lacertis 525

Caesaris hinc puppes, hinc Graio remige classis

ToUitur ; inpulsae tonsis tremuere carinae,

Crebraque sublimes convellunt verbera puppes.

Cornua Romanae classis valldaeque triremes

Quasque quater surgens extructi remigis ordo 530

Commovet et plures quae mergunt aequore pinus,

Multiplices cinxere rates. Hoc robur aperto

Oppositum pelago : lunata classe recedunt

Ordine contentae gemino crevisse Liburnae.

Celsior at cunctis Bruti praetoria puppis 535

Verberibus senis agitur molemque profundo

Invehit et summis longe petit aequora remis.

Ut tantum medii fuerat maris, utraque classis
Quod semel excussis posset transcurrere tonsis,

^ D. Brutus, Caesar's admiral, is not to be confused vvitl
M. Brutus alread}'^ mentioned.
• Islands off Marseilles.

152

BOOK III

joined together to form a steady platform for fighting
at sea. By now too the fleet, escorting the turret-
ship of Brutus,^ had come down with the waters
of the Rhone to the sea, and was anchored off the
land of the Stoechades.^ The Greeks were no less
ready to trust all their forces to the mercy of
fortune : they put aged sires together with strip-
lings in the ranks. They manned their fleet which
rode at anchor, and even searched their dockyards
for ships past service. The sun scattered his
morning beams over the sea and splintered them
on the water ; the sky was free from clouds ; the
North wind was at rest and the South winds held
their peace ; the sea lay smooth, reserved for battle.
Then each man started his vessel from its anchorage,
and the two fleets leaped forward with rival strength
of arm — Caesar's ships on one side and the fleet
rowed by Greeks on the other ; the hulls tremble
to the beat of the oars, and the rapid stroke tears
the tall vessels through the water. The wings
of the Roman fleet were closed in by ships of many
kinds — stout triremes, and vessels driven by four
tiers of rowers rising one above another, and others
that dipped in the sea a still greater number of
blades. These heavy ships were set as a barrier
against the open sea ; the galleys, content to rise
aloft with but two banks of oars, were further back
in crescent formation. Towering above them all,
the flag-ship of Brutus, driven by six rows of oars
and advancing its bulk over the deep, reaches for
the water far below with its topmost tier.

When only so much of sea separated the fleets
as each of them could cover with one lusty stroke
of oars, then countless cries rose together in the

^53

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Innuraerae vasto miscentur in aethere voces, 540

Remorumque sonus premitur clamore, nee ullae

Audiri potuere tubae. Turn caerula verrunt

Atque in transtra cadunt et remis pectora pulsant.

Ut primum rostris crepuerunt obvia rostra,

In puppim rediere rates, emissaque tela 545

Aera texerunt vacuumque cadentia pontum.

Et iam diductis extendunt cornua proris,

Diversaeque rates laxata classe receptae.

Ut, quotiens aestus Zephyris Eurisque repugnat.

Hue abeunt fluctus, illo mare, sic ubi puppes 550

Sulcato varios duxerunt gurgite tractus.

Quod tulit ilia ratis remis, haec rettulit aequor.

Sed Grais habiles pugnamque lacessere pinus

Et temptare fugam nee longo frangere gyro

Cursum nee tardae flectenti cedere clavo ; 665

At Romana ratis stabilem praebere carinam

Certior et terrae similem bellantibus usum.

Tunc in signifera residenti puppe magistro

Brutus ait : " Paterisne acies errare profundo,

Artibus et certas pelagi ? iam consere bellum, 660

Phocaicis medias rostris oppone carinas."

Paruit, obliquas et praebuit hostibus alnos.

Turn quaecumque ratis temptavit robora Bruti,

Ictu victa suo percussae capta cohaesit ;

Ast alias manicaeque ligant teretesque catenae, 666

Seque teneiit remis : tecto stetit aequore bellum.

154

BOOK III

wide heaven, till the splash of the blades was
drowned by shouting and no trumpet could be
heard. Then the men sweep the sea, bending
back to the thwarts behind and bringing the oars
against their chests. As soon as beak met beak
and clashed, the ships backed astern, and a volley
of missiles covered the sky and, as they fell, the
sea between the ships. And now the Romans
deploy their wings, leaving space between the
prows, and their open order gives entrance to the
enemy's ships. As, when the tide runs against
winds from West or East, the waves are driven in
one direction and the body of the sea in another ;
so, when the vessels ploughed furrows in the sea
this way and that, the water which the oars of
one ship threw behind it was thrown by another
in the opposite direction. But the Greek ships
were easily handled for attack or retreat, quick
to change course with a sharp turn and to answer
the guiding helm, while the Roman ships were safer
in this — that they offered a steady platform to
the fighter and a foothold like dry ground. Then
Brutus hailed his steersman who sat on the poop
beside the ensign : " Why suffer the battle to
straggle over the sea ? why seek to rival the foe's
manoeuvres? Mass the ships for fighting at once,
and offer our broadsides to the beaks of the
Phocaeans." The man obeyed and exposed the
ship's broadside to the enemy. Thereafter, each
ship that tested the timber of Brutus was defeated
by its own blow and clung, a captive, to the vessel
it had rammed, while others were noosed by
grappling-irons and smooth chains, or were en-
tangled by their own oars. The sea was no longer
visible, and the battle became stationary.

155

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

lam-non excussis torquentur tela lacertis.
Nee longinqua cadunt iaculato volnera ferro,
Miscenturque manus. Navali plurima bello
Ensis agit. Stat quisque suae de robore puppis 570

Pronus in adversos ictuSj nuUique perempti
In ratibus cecidere suis. Cruor altus in unda
Spumat, et obducti concrete sanguine fluctus.
Et quas inmissi traxerunt vincula ferri.
Has prohibent iungi conferta cadavera puppes. 675

Semianimes alii vastum subiere profundum
Hauseruntque suo permixtum sanguine pontum.
Hi luctantem animam lenta cum morte trahentes
Fractarum subita ratium periere ruina.
Inrita tela suas peragunt in gurgite caedes, 580

Et quodcumque cadit frustrate pondere ferrum,
Exceptum mediis invenit volnus in undis.

Phocaicis Romana ratis vallata carinis
Robore diducto dextrum laevumque tuetur
Aequo Marte latus ; cuius dum pugnat ab alta 685

Puppe Catus Graiumque audax aplustre retentat,
Terga simul pariter missis et pectora telis
Transigitur ; medio concurrit pectore ferrum,
Et stetit incertus, flueret quo volnere, sanguis,
Donee utrasque simul largus cruor expulit hastas 690
Divisitque animam sparsitque in volnera letuni.
Derigit hue puppem miseri quoque dextra Telonis,
Qua nuUam melius pelago turbante carinae
Audivere manum, nee lux est notior ulli
Crastina, seu Phoebum videat seu cornua lunae, 695

Semper Venturis conponere carbasa ventis,

IS6

BOOK III

No longer were weapons hurled from vigorous
arms, no longer were the wounds of the hurtling
steel inflicted at a distance ; but men fought hand
to hand. The sword played the chief part in that
fight at sea. Each man leaned forward from the
bulwark of his own ship to strike his foe, and
none fell dead upon their own decks. Their blood
foamed deep upon the wave, and a crust of gore
covered the sea. The ships that were caught and
dragged by the iron chains were prevented from
coming close by the crowded corpses. Some sailors
sank half alive into the bottomless deep and drank
the brine mixed with their own blood. Others,
while still drawing breath that struggled against
tardy death, perished by the sudden downfall of
their wrecked craft. Weapons that missed their
aim killed men in the water on their own account ;
and every missile that fell with its heavy blow
baffled was met and found a mark in mid-ocean.

A Roman ship, hemmed in by Phocaean craft,
was defending her port and starboard with divided
crew but equal hardihood. Catus, while fighting
on the raised poop and boldly grasping the stern-
ornament of a foe, was pierced in back and breast
at the same moment by weapons launched together ;
the weapons met in his body, and the blood stayed,
uncertain through which wound to flow ; at last the
torrent from his veins drove out both javelins at
once, parting his life in two and distributing his
death between the wounds. Hither also ill-fated
Telo steered his bark ; to no hand were ships on
stormy seas more obedient than to his ; and none,
from observation of the sun or the moon's horns,
could better forecast the morrow, so as ever to

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Hie Latiae rostro conpagem ruperat alni,

Pila sed in medium venere trementia pectus,

Avertitque ratem morientis dextra magistri.

Dum cupit in sociam Gyareus erepere puppem, 600

Excipit inmissum suspensa per ilia ferrum,

Adfixusque rati telo retinente pependit.

Stant gemini fratres, fecundae gloria matris,
Quos eadem variis genuerunt viscera fatis.
Discrevit mors saeva vires, unumque relictum 606

Agnorunt miseri sublato errore parentes,
Aeternis causam lacrimis ; tenet ille dolorem
Semper et amissum fratrem lugentibus ofFert.
Quorum alter mixtis oblique pectine remis
Ausus Romanae Graia de puppe carinae 610

Iniectare manum ; sed earn gravis insuper ictus
Amputat ; ilia tamen nisu, quo prenderat, liaesit
Deriguitque tenens strictis inmortua nervis.
Crevit in adversis virtus : plus nobilis irae
Truncus habet fortique instaurat proelia laeva 615

Rapturusque suam procumbit in aequora dextram :
Haec quoque cum tote manus est abscisa lacerte.
lam clipee telisque carens, non conditus ima
Puppe sed expositus fraternaque pectore nude
Arma tegens, crebra confix us cuspide perstat 620

Telaque multorum leto casura suorum

^ He wished to take Telo's place at the helm.
iS8

BOOK III

set his sails to the coming winds. He would have
rammed the side of the Roman vessel, had not
flying javelins pierced to the centre of his breast ;
and the hand of the dying helmsman steered his
ship aside. While Gyareus sought to clamber over
into his friend's craft/ a grapnel was launched and
caught him through the middle as he dangled in
air ; and there he hung, held fast by the engine
to the gunwale.

Twin brothers fought there, the pride of a fertile
mother ; but the same womb gave them birth for
different deaths. The cruel hand of death made
distinction between them ; and the wretched
parents, no longer puzzled by the likeness, recog-
nised the one survivor but found in him a source
of unending sorrow ; for he keeps their grief ever
present and recalls his lost brother to their mourn-
ing hearts. One of these twins dared to catch
hold of a Roman ship from his own deck, when
the oars were entangled and overlapped each other.
The hand was lopped off by a heavy downward
blow ; but still it clung with the effort of its first
grip and, holding on with strained muscles, stiffened
there in death. His valour rose with disaster ;
mutilated, he displays yet more heroic ardour.
Fiercely he renews the fight with his left hand
and leans forward over the water to rescue his
right hand ; the left hand also and the whole arm
were cut off. Then bereft both of shield and
sword, nut hiding away in the bottom of the ship
but full in view, he protects his brother's shield with
his own bare breast, standing firm, though pierced
with many a point, and, although he had amply
earned his death already, stopping missiles that

159

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Emerita iam morte tenet. Turn volnere multo

EfFugientem animam lassos collegit in artus

Membraque contendit toto, quicumque manebat,

Sanguine et hostilem defectis robore nervis 626

Insiluit solo nociturus pondere puppem.

Strage virum cumulata ratis mul toque cruore

Plena per obliquum crebros latus accipit ictus,

Et, postquam ruptis pelagus conpagibus hausit,

Ad summos repleta foros descendit in undas 630

Vicinum involvens contorto vortice pontum.

Aequora discedunt mersa diducta carina,

Inque locum puppis cecidit mare. Multaque ponto

Praebuit ille dies varii miracula fati.

Ferrea dum puppi rapidos manus inserit uncos, 635
Adfixit Lycidan. Mersus foret ille profundo,
Sed prohibent socii suspensaque crura retentant.
Scinditur avolsus, nee, sicut volnere, sanguis
Emicuit lentus : ruptis cadit undique venis,
Discursusque animae diversa in membra meantis 640
Interceptus aquis. Nullius vita perempti
Est tanta dimissa via. Pars ultima trunci
Tradidit in letum vacuos vitalibus artus ;
At tumidus qua pulmo iacet, qua viscera fervent,
Haeserunt ibi fata diu luctataque multum 645

Hac cum parte viri vix omnia membra tulerunt.

Dum nimium pugnax unius turba carinae
Incumbit prono lateri vacuamque relinquit.

i6o

BOOK III

would in their fall have made an end of many.
Then the life that was departing through many
wounds he gathered together into his spent frame,
and bracing his limbs with all his remaining
strength, he sprang on board the Roman ship ; his
sinews had lost their power, and his only weapon
was his weight. She was piled high with the
carnage of her crew and ran with blood ; she
suffered blow after blow on her broadside ; and, when
her sides were shattered and let in the sea, she filled
up to the top of her decks and sank down into the
waves, sucking in the water round her with curling
eddy. As the ship sank, the sea parted asunder
and then fell back into the room she had occupied.
And many other strange forms of death were seen
that day upon the deep.

Thus Lycidas was pierced by a grappling-iron
that hurled its swift hooks on board. He would
have sunk in the sea, but for his comrades who
seized his legs as they swung in air. He was torn
asunder, and his blood gushed out, not trickling
as from a wound, but raining on all sides from
his severed arteries ; and the free play of the life
coursing through the different limbs was cut off by
the water. No other victim's life escaped through
so wide a channel. The lower half of his body
resigned to death the limbs that contain no vital
organs ; but where the lungs were full of air and
the heart of heat, there death was long baffled and
struggled hard with this part of the man, till with
difficulty it mastered the whole body.

On one of the ships the crew, too eager for battle,
leaned on the tilted gunwale and left empty the side
where there was no enemy. Their combined weight

i6i

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Qua caret hoste, ratem, congesto pondere puppis
Versa cava texit pelagus nautasque carina, 660

Bracchia nee licuit vasto iactare profundo,
Sed clause periere mari. Tunc unica diri
Conspecta est leti facies, cum forte natantem
Diversae rostris iuvenem fix ere carinae.
Discessit medium tam vastos pectus ad ictus, 65

Nee prohibere valent obtritis ossibus artus.
Quo minus aera sonent ; eliso ventre per ora
Eiectat saniem permixtus viscere sanguis.
Postquam inhibent remis puppes ac rostra reducunt,
Deiectum in pelagus perfosso pectore corpus 66(

Volneribus transmisit aquas. Pars maxima turbae
Naufraga iactatis morti obluctata lacertis
Puppis ad auxilium sociae concurrit ; at illis,
Robora cum vetitis prensarent altius ulnis
Nutaretque ratis populo peritura recepto, 66

Jnpia turba super medios ferit ense lacertos.
Bracchia linquentes Graia pendentia puppe
A manibus cecidere suis : non amplius undae
Sustinuere graves in summo gurgite truncos.

lam que omni fusis nudato milite telis 67

Invenit arma furor : remum contorsit in hostem
Alter, at hi totum validis aplustre lacertis,
Avolsasque rotant expulso remige sedes.
In pugnam fregere rates. Sidentia pessum
Corpora caesa tenent spoliantque cadayera ferro. 67i

162

BOOK III

upset the craft, so that she covered over both sea
and sailors with her hull ; it was impossible to strike
out on the open sea, and they died in their ocean
prison. On that day was seen an unexampled form
of dreadful death : it chanced that a man in the
water was pierced by the beaks of two ships meeting
one another. His breast was cloven in two by the
dreadful impact ; the bones were ground to powder,
and the body could not hinder the brazen prows
from clashing. The belly was crushed ; blood,
mixed with flesh, spouted gore through the mouth.
When the ships backed water and withdrew their
beaks, the corpse with mutilated breast sank and
suffered the water to pass through its wounds. Of
another crew most were shipwrecked and swam for
their lives till they crowded to get help from a
friendly craft ; then, when they caught hold of the
gunwale high up, though they were warned off,
because the ship was unsteady and would have sunk
if she had rescued them all, the others without pity
chopped their arms in two with the sword from
their deck. Their arms still hanging on the Greek
ship, they fell and left their hands behind them ;
nor did the surface of the sea support any longer the
weight of the mutilated bodies.

By now the fighters had all discharged their
missiles, and their hands were empty, but rage
found weapons. One hurled an oar at the foe ; the
strong arms of others launch a whole stern-ornament,
or turn out the rowers and tear up the thwarts for a
missile ; they broke up their ships to fight with.
They caught hold of dead bodies as they sank to the
bottom, and robbed the corpses of the weapons
which had killed them. Many a man, for want of

163

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Multi inopes teli iaculum letale revolsum
Volneribus traxere suis et viscera laeva
Oppressere manu, validos dum praebeat ictus
Sanguis et, hostilem cum torserit, exeat, hastam.

Nulla tamen plures hoc edidit aequore clades 680

Quam pelago diversa lues. Nam pinguibus ignis
Adfixus taedis et tecto sulpure vivax
S})argitur ; at faciles praebere aliraenta carinae
Nunc pice, nunc liquida rapuere incendia cera.
Nee flammas superant undae, sparsisque per aequor 685
lam ratibus fragmenta ferus sibi vindicat ignis.
Hie recipit fluctus, extinguat ut aequore flammas.
Hi, ne mergantur, tabulis ardentibus haerent.
Mille modos inter leti mors una timori est.
Qua coepere mori. Nee cessat naufraga virtus : 690
Tela legunt deiecta mari ratibusque ministrant
Incertasque manus ictu languente per undas
Exercent ; nunc, rara datur si copia ferri,
Utuntur pelago : saevus conplectitur hostem
Hostis, et inplicitis gaudent subsidere membris 695

Mergentesque mori. Pugna fuit unus in ilia
Eximius Phoceus animam servare sub undis
Scrutarique fretum, si quid mersisset harcnis,
Et nimis adfixos unci convellere morsus,
Adductum quotiens non senserat anchora funem. 700
Hie, ubi conprensum penitus deduxerat hostem,
Victor et incolumis summas remeabat in undas ;

1 The blood is identified with the vital power : cf. iv. 286,
287.

2 The epithet has never been explained : the sulphur was
smeared on the top of torches.

3 In ancient ships wax was used for oakum, to caulk the
seams of the deck ; comp. x. 494.

164

BOOK III

a missile, plucked forth the fatal javelin from his
own wounds and clutched his vitals with the left
hand, that the blood might have time to deal a sturdy
stroke^ and hurl back the enemy's spear before it
flowed forth.

In that sea fight, however, no plague wrought
more destruction than the element most hostile to
the sea. For fire spread everywhere — fire cleaving
to resinous torches and kept alive by hidden ^
sulphur; and thereupon the ships, quick to provide
fuel, caught fire at once with their pitch or melting
wax. 3 Nor did the waves master the fire, but the
flame caught fierce hold of the wrecks now scattered
over the deep. Some let in the sea, to put out the
fire, while others cling to blazing planks, for fear
they drown ; among a thousand forms of death,
men fear one only — ^that in which death first ap-
proaches them. Even in shipwreck brave men are
brave still : they pick up weapons thrown down
into the sea and hand them to the crews, or deal
feeble blows with erring aim from the water.
Some, when other weapons fail, make the sea their
weapon : foe grapples fiercely with foe, glad to sink
with limbs locked together and to drown while
drowning another. One of the combatants was
Phoceus ; * better than all other men could he hold
his breath under water, and search the deep for aught
which its sands had swallowed ; or, when the anchor
would not answer the tug of the cable, he could
wrench away the flukes that had bitten too deep.
He had grappled with a foe and carried him deep
down, and now was returning to the surface alive

• This may be a proper name ; or it may stand for
Phocaicus, "a man of Marseilles.'*

>65

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Sed se per vacuos credit dum surgere fluctus,
Puppibus occurrit tandemque sub aequore mansit.
Hi super hostiles iecerunt bracchia remos 705

Et ratium tenuere fugam. Non perdere letum
Maxima cura fuit : multus sua volnera puppi
Adfixit moriens et rostris abstulit ictus.

Stan tern sublimi Tyrrheiium culmine prorae
Lygdamus, excussae Balearis tortor habenae, 710

Glande petens solido fregit cava tempora plumbo.
Sedibus expulsi, postquam cruor omnia rupit
Vincula, procurrunt oculi, stat lumine rapto
Attonitus mortisque illas putat esse tenebras.
At postquam membris sensit constare vigorem, 715

" Vos/' ait " o socii, sicut tormenta soletis.
Me quoque mittendis rectum conponite telis.
Egere, quod superest animae, Tyrrhene, per omnes
Bellorum casus. Ingentem militis usum
Hoc habet ex magna defunctum parte cadaver : 720

Viventis feriere loco." Sic fatus in hostem
Caeca tela manu, sed non tamen inrita, mittit.
Excipit haec iuvenis generosi sanguinis Argus,
Qua iam non medius descendit in ilia venter,
Adiuvitque suo procumbens pondere ferrum. 725

Stabat di versa victae iam parte carinae
Infelix Argi genitor, non ille iuventae
Tempore Phocaicis ulli cessurus in armis ;
Victum aevo robur cecidit, fessusque senecta
Exemplum, non miles erat ; qui funere viso 730

i66

BOOK III

and victorious. Fie believed he was rising where
the sea was open ; but he struck a ship's bottom and
never rose again. Some flung their arms over
enemy's oars and checked the flight of their vessels.
Their chief anxiety was not to waste their deaths :
many a dying man prevented an enemy's beak from
ramming by fastening his own wounded body on
the stern of his ship.

Tyrrhenus was standing on the lofty bow of his
ship, when Lygdamus, a wielder of the Balearic
thong, aimed a bullet and slung it ; and the solid
lead crushed his hollow temples. The blood burst
all the ligaments, and the eyes, forced from their
sockets, rushed forth. Tyrrhenus stood amazed by
his sudden blindness, believing that this was the
darkness of death. But when he felt that his limbs
retained their strength, he called to his companions :
" As you are wont to place your engines, so place
me too in the right position for hurling darts.
Tyrrhenus must spend what remains of life in every
hazard of war. This body, half dead already, can
play a soldier's part nobly : I shall be slain in place
of a living man." With these words he launched at
the foe a dart which, though no eye guided it, was
not launched in vain. It struck Argus, a youth of
noble race, just where the lower part of the belly
meets the groin, and falling forward he drove the
steel deeper with his own weight. At the other
end of the ship, which was now past fighting, stood
the unhappy father of Argus. In his prime he
would have matched any man of the Phocaean
army, but conquering age had brought low his
strength, and the feeble old man could not fight but
could show the way to others. When he saw the

167

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS .1

Saepe cadens longae senior per transtra carinae

Pervenit ad puppim spirantesque invenit artus.

Non lacrimae cecidere genis, non pectora tundit,

Distentis toto riguit sed corpore palmis.

Nox subit atque oculos vastae obduxere tenebrae, 735

Et miseriim cernens agnoscere desinit Arguni.

lUe caput labens et iam languentia eolla

Viso patre levat ; vox fauces nulla solutas

Prosequitur, tacito tantum petit oscula voitu

Invitatque patris claudenda ad luraina dextram. 740

Ut torpore senex caruit viresque cruentus

Coepit habere dolor, " Non perdam tempora " dixit

^' A saevis permissa deis, iugulumque senilem

Confodiam. Veniam misero concede parenti,

Arge, quod amplexus, extrema quod oscula fugi. 745

Nondum destituit calidus tua volnera sanguis,

Semianimisque iaces et adhuc potes esse superstes."

Sic fatus, quamvis capulum per viscera missi

Polluerat gladii, tamen alta sub aequora tendit

Praecipiti saltu : letum praecedere nati 750

Festinantem animam morti non credidit uni.

Inclinant iam fata ducum, nee iam amplius anceps
Belli casus erat. Graiae pars maxima classis
Mergitur, ast aliae mutato remige puppes
Victores vexere suos ; navalia paucae 755

Praecipiti tenuere fuga. Quis in urbe parentum
Fletus erat ! quanti matrum per litora planctus!
Coniunx saepe sui confusis voltibus unda

1 68

BOOK III

deadly wound, he made his way with many a stumble
along the ship and past the benches, and found the
body at the stern still breathing. No tears fell from
his cheeks, no blows on his breast, but his hands
flew wide apart and all his body became rigid.
Night came over him, and thick darkness veiled his
eyes; he ceased to recognise the hapless figure of
Argus before him. At sight of his father the son
raised his sinking head and failing neck ; no words
followed the unlocking of his throat : he could only
ask a kiss with silent look and beg that his father's
hand might close his eyes. When the old man
recovered from his swoon, and cruel grief began to
assert its power, " I will not waste," he cried, "the
respite granted by the ruthless gods, but will use it
to pierce this aged throat. Ar/^us, forgive your
wretched father for refusing your last embrace and
your parting kiss. The warm blood has not yet
ebbed from your wounds and you lie there still
breathing ; it is still possible for you to survive me."
Thus he spoke, and not content with driving his
sword through his body till the hilt was stained, he
sprang headlong into the deep, so eager to die before
his son that he would not trust to a single form of
death.

The fortunes of the leaders were no longer evenly
balanced, and the issue of the fight was no longer
doubtful. Of the Greek ships most were sunk,
others with changed crews now carried their con-
querors, and only a few gained the dockyards by
nasty flight. What tears were shed by parents in
the city ! how loud was the lamentation of mothers
along the shore I Many a wife clasped a Roman
corpse, mistaking the face, with features disfigured

169

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Credidit ora viri Romanum amplexa cadaver,
Accensisque rogis miseri de corpora trunco 760

Certavere patres. At Brutus in aequore victor
Primus Caesareis pelagi decus addidit armis.

TJO

BOOK III

by the sea, for her husband's ; beside lighted pyres
hapless father strove with father for possession of
a headless body. On the other side, Brutus by his
victory at sea first conferred naval glory on Caesar's
arms.^

1 Lucan strangely omits to mention that Massilia was
taken by Caesar's forces.

V

BOOK IV

LIBER QUARTUS

At procul extremis terrarum Caesar in oris

Martem saevus agit non multa caede nocentem.

Maxima sed fati ducibus momenta daturum.

lure pari rector castris Afranius illis

Ac Petreius erat ; concordia duxit in aequas 5

Imperium commune vices, tutelaque valli

Pervigil alterno paret custodia signo.

His praeter Latias acies erat inpiger Astur

Vettonesque leves profugique a gente vetusta

Gallorum Celtae miscentes nomen Hiberis. 10

Colle tumet modico lenique excrevit in altum
Fingue solum tumulo ; super hunc fundata vetusta
Surgit Ilerda manu ; placidis praelabitur undis
Hesperios inter Sicoris non ultimus amnes,
Saxeus ingenti quem pons amplectitur arcu 15

Hibernas passurus aquas. At proxima rupes
Signa tenet Magni ; nee Caesar colle minora
Castra levat ; medius dirimit tentoria gurges.
Explicat bine tellus campos efFusa patentes
Vix oculo prendente modum, camposque coerces, 20
Cinga rapax, vetitus fluctus et litora cursu
Oceani pepulisse tuo ; nam gurglte mixto
Qui praestat terris aufert tibi nomen Hiberus.

* A common deseription of Spain in Lucan.

2 Pompey's army of veterans.

^ Celtiberian was the compound name.

174

BOOK IV

But far away, in the outermost region of earth,'^
Caesar fiercely carried on war — war not guilty of
much bloodshed, but destined to turn decisively the
scales of fate for the rival leaders. Afranius
and Petreius ruled the army ^ in Spain with equal
authority : united in heart, they shared their com-
mand equally and in turn, and the watchful guard
that kept the rampart safe obeyed the watchword
of each in turn. Besides Roman soldiers they had
active Asturians and nimble Vettones, and Celts,
emigrants from an ancient tribe of Gaul, who added
their own name to that of the Hiberians.^

The fertile land rises in a hill of moderate height
and ascends with easy slope ; and on this stands
Ilerda, founded by hands of old. The Sicoris, not
least among western rivers, flows by with quiet
waters; and a stone bridge, fit to withstand the
winter floods, spans the river with mighty arch. A
steep hill close by was occupied by the army of
Magnus; and Caesar pitched his camp aloft on
another hill as high ; the river flowed between and
divided the camps. Beyond, the level land spreads
out in plains whose limit the eye can scarce em-
brace ; but the rushing Cinga bounds the plains —
Cinga, whose own swift waters may never smite the
shore and the sea ; for the Hiberus, which gives its
name to the country, mixes its flood with the Cinga
and steals its name from it.

175

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Prima dies belli cessavit Marte cruento
Spectandasque ducum vires numerosaque signa 26

Exposuit. Piguit sceleris ; pudor arma furentum
Continuit, patriaeque et ruptis legibus unum
Donavere diem ; prono cum Caesar Olympo
In noctem subita circumdedit agmina fossa,
Dum primae perstant acies, hostemque fefellit 30

Et prope consertis obduxit castra maniplis.
Luce nova collem subito conscendere cursu.
Qui medius tutam castris dirimebat Ilerdam,
Imperat. Hue hostem pariter terrorque pudorque
Inpulit, et rapto turaulum prior agmine cepit. 35

His virtus ferrumque locum promittit, at illis
Ipse locus. Miles rupes oneratus in altas
Nititur, adversoque acies in monte supina
Haeret et in tergum casura umbone sequentis
Erigitur. Nulli telum vibrare vacavit, 40

Dum labat et fixo firmat vestigia pilo,
Dum scopulos stirpesque tenent atque hoste relicto
Oaedunt ense viam. Vidit lapsura ruina
Agmina dux equitemque iubet succedere bello
Munitumque latus laevo praeducere gyro. 45

Sic pedes ex facili nulloque urguente receptus,
Inritus et victor subducto Marte pependit.

Hactenus armorum discrimina ; cetera bello
Fata dedit variis incertus motibus aer.

^ He shifted his camp to a site nearer the enemy and concealed
the manoeuvre.

" I.e. their left side.

176

BOOK IV

The first day of the campaign was innocent of
bloodshed : it only displayed to view the forces of
the leaders and the multitude of their troops. Men
loathed their own wickedness ; shame held back
the weapons of their frenzy, and they granted one
day's respite to their country and the laws they had
l)roken. But when the sky was westering towards
night, Caesar surrounded his army with a trench
dug in haste, while his front rank kept their
ground; thus he deceived the enemy, screening
his camp with a line of troops drawn up near at
hand.^ At dawn he ordered his men to move with
speed and climb the hill, which lay between Ilerda
and the camp and protected the town. Fear and
shame alike drove the enemy to this point : with
flying march they reached the hill first and occupied
it. Their courage and their swords promised
possession of the ground to Caesar's men ; but the
foe relied on actual possession. The heavy-laden
soldier struggles up the heights ; the line, looking
upward, clings to the mountain before it and is
supported from falling backwards by the shields of
those behind. None was at leisure to hurl his
weapon : each drives in his javelin to assure his
slippery foothold ; they clutch at rocks and trees ;
they pay no heed to the enemy but hack a path
with their swords. Caesar saw that his ranks would
come down with a crash ; therefore he ordered the
cavalry to take up the fighting and interpose their
shield-side ^ by a left wheel. Thus the infantry were
easily rescued, and none pursued them ; the con-
querors, when their antagonists were withdrawn,
remained on the hill, but had gained nothing.

So far only the strife of arms proceeded : the rest

177

VOL. I.

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Pigro bruma gelu siccisque Aquilonibus haerens
Aethere constricto pluvias in nube tenebat.
Urebant moritana nives camposque iacentes
Non duraturae conspecto sole pruinae,
Atque omnis propior mergenti sidera caelo
Aruerat tellus hiberno dura sereno.
Sed postquam vernus calidum Titana recepit
Sidera respieiens delapsae portitor Helles,
Atque iterum aequatis ad iustae pondera Librae
Temporibus vicere dies, turn sole relicto
Cynthia, quo primum cornu dubitanda refulsit,
Exclusit Borean flammasque accepit in Euro.
lUe, suo nubes quascumque invenit in axe,
Torsit in occiduum Nabataeis flatibus orbera,
Et quas sentit Arabs et quas Gangetica tellus
Exhalat nebulas, quidquid concrescere primus
Sol patitur, quidquid caeli fuscator Eoi
Inpulerat Corus, quidquid defenderat Indos.
Incendere diem nubes oriente remotae
Nee medio potuere graves incumbere mundo
Sed nimbos rapuere fuga. Vacat imbribus Arctos
Et Notus, in solam Calpen fluit umidus aer.
Hie, ubi iam Zephyri fines, et summus Olympi
Cardo tenet Tethyn, vetitae transcurrere densos
Involvere globos, congestumque aeris atri
Vix recipit spatium quod separat aethere terram.

1 The western sky. ^ Aries, the Ram.

' I.e. after the vernal equinox.

178

BOOK IV

of the campaign was decided by the shifting phases
of capricious weatlier. Winter, congealed with
numbing frost and dry North winds, had bound
the upper air and penned the rain in the clouds.
The mountains were nipped by snow, and the low-
lying plains by hoar frost that would vanish at first
sight of the sun ; and all the earth, near that part
of the sky which dips the stars/ was hard and dry
owing to the cloudless winter weather. But in
spring the Carrier 2 who let Helle fall received the
burning sun and looked back at the other Signs ;
and, when day and night had for the second time
been made equal according to the balance of un-
erring Libra, day gained the victory.^ Then the
moon, receding from the sun, with that crescent
with which she shone, scarce visible, at first, barred
the North wind and grew bright while the East
wind blew. The East wind drove to the West on
blasts from Arabia all the clouds he found in his
own clime, all the mists that the Arabs feel or
the land of the Ganges breathes forth, all the
moisture that the Eastern sun suffers to collect, all
that the blast which darkens the Eastern heavens
had driven on, and all that had screened the
Indians from the sun. Day in the East was made
hotter by the removal of the clouds — clouds which
could not deposit their heavy burden on the centre
of earth, but swept the storms with them in their
flight. North and South were rainless, and all the
moist air streamed to Calpe. There, where the
zephyrs start and the furthest point of heaven limits
the sea, the clouds, forbidden to go further, rolled
into dense round masses ; and the space that divides
earth from heaven could scarce contain the accumu-

179

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Tamque polo pressae largos densantur in imbres

Spissataeque fluunt ; nee servant fulmina flammas

Quamvis crebra micent : exstinguunt fulgura nimbi.

Hinc inperfecto conplectitur aera gyro

Arcus, vix ulla variatus luce colorem, 80

Oceanumque bibit raptosque ad nubila fluctus

Pertulit et caelo defusum reddidit aequor.

lamque Pyrenaeae, quas numquam solvere Titan

Evaluit, fluxere nives, fractoque madescunt

Saxa gelu. Turn, quae solitis e fontibus exit, 85

Non habet unda vias : tarn largas alveus omnis

A ripis accepit aquas. lam naufraga eampo

Caesaris arma natant, inpulsaque gurgite multo

Castra labant ; alto restagnant flumina vallo.

Non pecorum raptus faciles, non pabula niersi 9Q

Ulla ferunt sulci ; tectarum errore viaruni

Fallitur occultis sparsus populator in agris. ' ^^^'^

lamque comes semper magnorum prima malorum

Saeva fames aderat, nulloque obsessus ab hoste

Miles eget ; toto censu non prodigus emit 8d

Exiguam Cererem. Pro lucri pallida tabes !

Non dest prolato ieiunus venditor auro.

lam tumuli collesque latent, iara flumina cuncta

Condidit una palus vastaque voragine mersit :

Absorpsit penitus rupes ac tecta ferarum 100

Detulit atque ipsas hausit, subitisque frementes

Vorticibus contorsit aquas et reppulit aestus

I So

BOOK IV

lation of dark mist. Next, squeezed against the
sky, they condense into al)undant rain and flow
along thickened ; thunderbolts flashed constantly
but could not keep their flame, because the rain
put out the lightning. Next, the rainbow spanned
the sky with its broken arch, while hardly any
light diversified its colours ; it drank the ocean,
carried up the waves speedily to the clouds, and
restored the water that had poured down from the
sky. Then the Pyrenean snows, which no sun had
ever power to thaw, were melted, the ice was
broken up, and the clifFs were wetted. Next, no
stream that issues forth from its normal springs
finds a fixed path : such a flood of waters poured
into every channel from over its banks. By this
time Caesar's army was shipwrecked and afloat on
land, his camp fell to pieces under the shock of
constant floods, and the rivers formed pools witliin
his high rampart. To carry off cattle is impossible ;
the submerged furrows produce no food ; the spoilers,
straggling over the vanished fields, are deceived by
missing the inundated roads. And now cruel famine
came — famine that is ever first in the train of great
disasters, and the soldier starves while no foe besets
him : though no spendthrift, he parted with all his
wealth for a handful of grain. Shame on the pale
plague of avarice! When gold is produced, sellers
are forthcoming, though hungry themselves. By
now mounds and hills are hidden ; all the rivers are
buried and swallowed up in the huge maw of a
single pool, which has devoured the rocks in its
depths, and carried down the habitations of wild
beasts, and engulfed the beasts themselves ; with
sudden eddies it churns up its roaring waters and

i8i

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Forlior Oceani. Nee Phoebum surgere sentit

Nox subtexta polo : rerum discrimina miscet

Deformis caeli facies iunctaeque tenebrae. lOfi

Sic mundi pars ima iacet, quam zona nivalis

Perpetuaeque premunt hiemes : non sidera caelo

Ulla videt, sterili non quidquam frigore gignit,

Sed glacie medios signorum temperat ignes.

Sic, o summe parens mundi, sic, sorte secunda IIC

Aequorei rector, facias, Neptune, tridentis,

Et tu perpetuis inpendas aera nimbis,

Tu remeare vetes, quoscumque emiseris, aestus.

Non habeant amnes declivem ad litora cursum

Sed pelagi referantur aquis, concussaque tellus llf

Laxet iter fluviis : hos campos Rhenus inundet,

Hos Rliodanus, vastos obliquent flumina fontes.

Riphaeas hue solve nives, hue stagna lacusque

Et pigras, ubicumque iacent, effunde paludes,

Et miseras bellis civilibus eripe terras. 12C

Sed parvo Fortuna viri contenta pavore
Plena redit, solitoque magis favere secundi
Et veniam meruere dei. lam rarior aer
Et par Phoebus aquis densas in vellera nubes
Sparserat, et noctes ventura luce rubebant, 121

Servatoque loco rerum discessit ab astris
Umor, et ima petit, quidquid pendebat aquarum.
Tollere silva comas, stagnis emergere colles
Incipiunt, visoque die durescere valles.

^rThe Antarctic region is meant.
* I.e. next in power to Jupiter.

182

BOOK IV

drives back with superior strength the tides of ocean.
Night, curtaining the sky, is not conscious of sun-
rise ; all natural distinctions are upset by the hideous
aspect of the heaven and by darkness following on
night. Such is the region that lies lowest in the
world ^ under the snowy zone and perpetual winter :
no stars are visible there ; its barren cold can pro-
duce nothing, but its ice lessens the heat of the
equatorial Signs. O supreme Father of the universe,
and O Neptune, to whom the second lot^ gave power
over the trident of ocean, be such your will ! May
the one god devote the sky to perpetual rain, and
the other prevent every tide he has sent forth from
ebbing again ! May rivers find no downward passage
to the shore but be driven back by the waters of
the sea ! May the earth shake and enlarge the
path of the rivers ! May the Rhine and the Rhone
flood the fields of Spain ! May the rivers turn aslant
their immense springs ! Pour hither the melted
snows of the Riphaean mountains and the water
from every mere and lake and stagnant marsh in
all the world, and snatch away this hapless land
from civil war.

But now Fortune, contented with having fright-
ened her favourite a little, came back in full force ;
and the gods earned pardon by an exceptional
exercise of their support. By this time the sky
had cleared ; the sun, a match for the waters, had
broken up the thick clouds into fleeces ; and the
nights grew red as dawn came on. The elements
took up their proper station : the moisture left the
firmament, and all the waters that were overhead
took the lowest room. Trees began to lift their
foliage, hills to rise above the floods, and valleys to

183

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Utque habuit ripas Sicoris camposque reliquit, 130

Primum cana salix madefacto vimine parvam

Texitur in puppim caesoque inducta iuvenco

Vectoris patiens tumidum super emicat amnem.

Sic Venetus stagnante Pado fusoque Britannus

Navigat Oceano ; sic^ cum tenet omnia Nil us, 135

Conseritur bibula Memphitis cumba papyro.

His ratibus traiecta manus festinat utrimque

Succisum curvare nemus^ fluviique ferocis

Incrementa timens non primis robora ripis

Inposuit, medios pontem distendit in agros. 140

Ac, ne quid Sicoris repetitis audeat undis,

Spargitur in sulcos et scisso gurgite rivis

Dat poenas maioris aquae. Postquam omnia fatis

Caesaris ire videt, celsam Petreius Ilerd.im

Deserit et noti diffisus viribus orbis 14fi

Indomitos quaerit populos et semper in arma

Mortis amore feros, et tendit in ultima mundi,

Nudatos Caesar colles desertaque castra
Conspiciens capere arma iubet nee quaerere pontem
Nee vada, sed duris fluvium superare lacertis. 160

Paretur, rapuitque ruens in proelia miles
Quod fugiens timuisset iter. Mox uda receptis
Membra fovent armis gelidosque a gurgite cursu
Restituunt artus, donee decresceret umbra

^ By this is meant centrals Spain.
184

BOOK IV

grow solid at the sight of sunlight. And as soon
as the Sicoris left the plains and had banks again,
osiers of hoary willow were steeped and plaited to
form small boats, which, when covered with the
skin of a slain ox, carried passengers and rode high
over the swollen river. In such craft the Venetian
navigates the flooded Po, and the Briton his wide
Ocean ; and so, when Nile covers the land, the
boats of Memphis are framed of thirsty papyrus.
In these boats Caesar's soldiers were ferried over;
in haste they began to cut down trees and form
them into an arch on both banks ; but, fearing a
spate of the headstrong river, instead of placing their
wooden bridge close by the margin, they carried it
far into the fields. Also, that the Sicoris might
never again wax bold with a renewal of its flood, it
was divided into channels and punished for its over-
flow by having its waters split up into canals.
When Petreius saw that Caesar's destiny was
carrying all before it, he left Ilerda on the hill :
distrusting the resources of the known world, he
sought untamed peoples, whom contempt of death
makes ever eager for battle ; and he moved on
towards the world's end.^

When Caesar saw the hills bare and the camp
deserted, he bade his men arm and cross the river
by hard swimming, without looking for either bridge
or ford ; and they obeyed. The soldier, when
rushing into battle, was eager for the passage which
he would have feared if retreating. Soon they put
on their arms again and dry their limbs; they
march in haste to warm their frames chilled from
the river, until the shadows grow shorter as day
rises to its height. And now the cavalry were

I8S

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

In medium surgente die ; iamque agmina summa 156
Carpit eques, dubiique fugae pugnaeque tenentur.

AttoUunt campo geminae iuga saxea rupes
Valle cava media ; tellus hinc ardua celsos
Continuat colles^ tutae quos inter opaco
Anfractu latuere viae ; quibus hoste potito 160

Faueibus emitti terrarum in devia Martem
Inque feras gentes Caesar videt. '' Ite sine ullo
Ordine " ait "raptumque fuga convertite bellum
Et faciem pugnae voltusque inferte minaces ;
Nee liceat pavidis ignava occumbere morte : 166

Excipiant recto fugientes pectore ferrum."
Dixit et ad montes tendentem praevenit hostem.
Illic exiguo paulum distantia vallo
Castra locant. Postquam spatio languentia nullo
Mutua conspicuos habuerunt lumina voltus, 170

[Hie fratres natosque suos videre patresque,] ^
Deprensum est civile nefas. Tenuere parumper
Ora metu, tantum nutu motoque salutant
Ense suos. Mox, ut stimulis maioribus ardens
Rupit amor leges, audet transcendere vallum 175

Miles, in amplexus efFusas tendere palmas.
Hospitis ille ciet nomen, vocat ille propinqiium,
Admonet hunc studiis consors puerilibus aetas ;
Nee Romanus erat, qui non agnoverat hostem.
Arma rigant lacrimis, singultibus oscula rumpunt, 180
Et quamvis nullo maculatus sanguine miles

* 171 {Here they saw their brothers, sons and fathers) has little
MS. authority and was ejected by Oudendorp.

* I.e. ** discipline."
:86

BOOK IV

harassing the rear of the enemy, who were held
there, doubting whether to fight or flee.

Two cliffs raised their rocky ridges on the plain,
leaving a hollow valley between. From that point
the earth rises into a continuous range of lofty hills,
among which a shadowed winding route was con-
cealed and offered safety. Caesar saw that if the
enemy reached that gorge, the war would slip from
his hands and be transferred to outlandish regions
and savage nations. " On with you, without keep-
ing ranks," he cried, " and turn back the war which
their flight has stolen from you ; bring against them
battle array and menacing countenances ; frightened
as they are, let them die no coward's death but
meet the sword in front, even while they flee."
Thus he spoke and outstripped the enemy as they
sought to gain the mountains. There the two
camps with low ramparts were pitched not far
apart. When their eyes met, undimmed by distance,
and they saw each other's faces clearly, then the
horror of civil war was unmasked. For a short time
fear^ kept them silent, and they greeted their
friends only by nodding their heads and waving
their swords ; but soon, when warm affection burst
the bonds of discipline with stronger motives, the
men ventured to climb over the palisade and stretch
out eager hands for embraces. One hails a friend
by name, another accosts a kinsman; the time
spent in the same boyish pursuits recalls a face to
memory; and he who had found no acquaintance
among the foe was no true Koman. They be-
sprinkle their weapons with tears ; sobs interrupt
their embraces ; though stained by no bloodshed,
they dread the deeds they might have done already.

187

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Quae potuit fecisse timet. Quid pectora pulsas ?

Quid, vaesane, gemis? fletus quid fundis inanes

Nee te sponte tua sceleri parere fateris ?

Usque adeone times, quern tu facis ipse timendum? 186

Classica det bello, saevos tu neglege cantus ;

Signa ferat, cessa : lam iam civilis Erinys

Concidet, et Caesar generum privatus amabit.

Nunc ades, aeterno conplectens omnia nexu,
O rerum mixtique salus Concordia mundi 19C

Et sacer orbis amor ; magnum nunc saecula nostra
Venturi discrimen habent. Periere latebrae
Tot scelerum, populo venia est erepta nocenti :
Agnovere suos. Pro numine fata sinistro
Exigua requie tantas augentia clades ! 19<

Pax erat, et miles castris permixtus utrisque
Errabat ; duro concorjdes caespite mensas ;

Instituunt et permixto libamina Baccho ;
Graminei luxere foci, iunctoque cubili
Extrahit insomnes bellorum fabula noctes, 20C

Quo primum steterint campo, qua lancea dextra
Exierit. Dum quae gesserunt fortia iactant
Et dum multa iiegant, quod solum fata petebant,
Est miseris renovata fides, atque omne futurum
Crevit amore nefas. Nam postquam foedera pacis 20fi
Cognita Petreio seque et sua tradita venum
Castra videt, famulas scelerata ad proelia dextras
1 88

BOOK IV

Fool ! why beat your breast and groan and shed
unavailing tears ? Why not confess that you obey
the command of crime by your own will? Do you
dread so greatly the leader whom you alone make
dreadful ? If he sound the bugle for war, be deaf
to its cruel note ; if he advance his standards,
stay still. Then in a moment the frenzy of civil
war will collapse, and Caesar, in private station, will
be friends with his daughter's husband.

Be present now, tliou that embracest all things in
an eternal bond. Harmony, the preserver of the
world and the blended universe ! Be present, thou
hallowed Love that unitest the world ! For at
this moment our age can exercise a mighty influence
upon the future. The disguise of all that wicked-
ness has been torn off, and a guilty nation has been
robbed of all excuse : the men have recognised their
kinsmen. A curse on Fortune, whose malignant
power uses a brief respite to make great calamities
still greater I There was peace, and the men made
friends and strolled about in either camp ; they
began friendly meals together and outpourings of
blended wine, sitting on the hard ground ; the fire
burned on turf-built hearths ; where they lay side by
side, tales of the war went on through all the sleep-
less night — on what field they first fought, by what
force of hand their javelin was launched. But while
they boast of their brave actions and deny the truth
of many tales, their friendship, alas ! was renewed,
which was all that Fortune desired, and all their
future wickedness was made worse by their recon-
ciliation.— For when Petreius heard of the peaceful
compact and saw that he and his forces had been
sold, he armed his slaves for infamous warfare.

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Excitat atque hostes turba stipatus inermes

Praecipitat castris iunctosque amplexibus ense

Separat et multo disturbat sanguine pacem. 210

Addidit ira ferox moturas proelia voces :

" Inmemor o patriae, signorura oblite tuorum,

Non potes hoc causae, miles, praestare, senatus

Adsertor victo redeas ut Caesare ? certe,

Ut vincare, potes. Dum ferrum, incertaque fata, 216

Quique fluat multo non derit volnere sanguis,

Ibitis ad dominum damnataque signa feretis,

Utque habeat famulos nuUo discrimine Caesar,

Exorandus erit ? ducibus quoque vita petita est ?

Numquam nostra salus pretinm mercesque nefandae 220

Proditionis erit ; non hoc civilia bella,

Ut vivamus, agunt. Trahimur sub nomine pacis.

Non chalybem gentes penitus fugiente metallo

Eruerent, nulli vallarent oppida muri,

Non sonipes in bella ferox, non iret in aequor 226

Turrigeras classis pelago sparsura carinas.

Si bene libertas umquam pro pace daretur.

Hostes nempe meos sceleri iurata nefando

Sacramenta tenent ; at vobis vilior hoc est

Vestra fides, quod pro causa pugnantibus aequa 230

Et veniam sperare licet. Pro dira pudoris

Funera ! nunc toto fatorum ignarus in orbe,

Magne, paras acies mundique extrema tenentes

Sollicitas reges, cum forsan foedere nostro

lam tibi sit promissa salus." Sic fatur et omnes 235

190

BOOK IV

Surrounded by this band, he hurled the unarmed
enemy out of the camp, separated the embrace of
friends by the sword, and sliattered the peace with
much shedding of blood. His fierce anger prompted
speech that was sure to provoke a fray : " Soldiers,
regardless of your country and forgetful of your
standards, if you cannot, in the cause of the Senate,
conquer Caesar and return as liberators, you can at
least be conquered for their sake. While your
swords are left and the future is uncertain, and
while you have blood enough to flow from many a
wound, will you go over to a master and carry the
standards which you once condemned } Must
Caesar be implored to treat you no worse than his
other slaves .'' Have you begged quarter for your
generals also.? Never shall our lives be the price
and wages of foul treason. Our life is not the
object of civil war. Undej a pretence of peace we
are dragged into captivity. Men would not dig out
iron in the deep-burrowing mine, cities would not be
fortified with walls, the spirited charger would not
rush to battle, nor the fleet be launched to send
turreted ships all over the sea, if it were ever right
to barter freedom for peace. My foes, it seems, are
true to the oath they swore — an oath which binds
them to crime unspeakable ; but you hold your
allegiance cheaper, because you are fighting for a
righteous cause and may therefore hope even for —
pardon ! Alas ! that Honour should die so foul a
death. At this moment Magnus, ignorant of his
fate, is raising armies all over the world and rousing
up kings who inhabit the ends of the earth, though
perhaps our treaty has already bargained for his
mere life." — His words worked strongly upon every

IQI

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Concussit mentes scelerumque reduxit amorem.
Sic, ubi desuetae silvis in carcere cluso
Mansuevere ferae et voltus posuere minaces
Atque hominem didicere pati, si torrida parvus
Venit in ora cruor, redeunt rabiesque furorque, 240

Admonitaeque tument gustato sanguine fauces ;
Fervet et a trepido vix abstinet ira magistro.
Itur in omne nefas, et, quae Fortuna deorum
Invidia caeca bellorum in nocte tulisset,
Fecit monstra fides. Inter mensasque torosque, 246
Quae modo conplexu foverunt, pectora caedunt;
Et quamvis primo ferrum strinxere gementes,
Ut dextrae iusti gladius dissuasor adhaesit,
Dum feriunt, odere suos animosque labantes
Confirmant ictu. Fervent iam castra tumultu, 250

Ac velut occultum pereat'scelus, omnia monstra
In facie posuere ducum ; iuvat esse nocentes.
Tu, Caesar, quamvis spoliatus milite multo,
Agnoscis superos ; neque enim tibi maior in arvis 256
Emathiis fortuna fuit nee Phocidos undis
Massiliae, Phario nee tantum est aequore gestum.
Hoc siquidem solo civilis crimine belli
Dux causae melioris eris. Polluta nefanda
Agmina caede duces iunctis committere castris 260

Non audent, altaeque ad moenia rursus Ilerdae
Intendere fugam. Campos eques obvius omnes
Abstulit et siccis inclusit collibus hostem.

1 At the battle of Pharsalia.
8 Where Pompey was killed.

192

BOOK IV ?^'

heart and brought back the love of crime. So, when
wild beasts have lost the habit of the woods and
grown tame in a narrow prison^ they lose their grim
aspect and learn to submit to man ; but, if a drop of
blood finds its way to their thirsty mouths, their rage
and fury return, and their throats, reminded of their
old life by the taste of blood, swell again ; their anger
boils up and scarcely spares their frightened keeper.
The soldiers proceed to every crime ; and horrors,
which, to the discredit of the gods, Fortune might
have brought about in the blind obscurity of battle,
are wrought by loyal obedience. Among the
tables and couches they pierce the very breasts
which they lately embraced. And though they
groaned at first when baring the steel, yet when the
sword, that counsellor of evil, clings to their grasp,
they hate the friends whom they strike, and their
blows confirm their wavering purpose. The camp now
seethes with uproar ; and, as if a secret crime
would be wasted, they set every horror before the
eyes of their commanders ; they glory in their
guilt.

Caesar, though robbed of many soldiers, recognised
the hand of heaven. Never indeed was he more
fortunate, either on the Emathian plain ^ or on the
sea of Phocian Massilia ; nor did the coast of
Egypt 2 witness so great a triumph, inasmuch as he,
thanks to this one crime of civil war, will be
henceforward the leader of the better cause. The
leaders dared not entrust their troops, stained with
hideous bloodshed, to a camp near Caesar's, but
directed their flight back to the walls of lofty Ilerda.
Caesar's cavalry met them and drove them off the
plains and cooped them up among waterless hills.

193

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Tunc inopes undae praerupta cingere fossa
Caesar a vet nee castra pati contingere ripas
Aut circum largos curvari bracchia fontes.

Ut leti videre viam, conversus in iram
Praecipitem timor est. Miles non utile clausis
Auxilium maetavit equos, tandemque coactus
Spe posita damnare fugam casurus in hostes
Fertur. Ut efFuso Caesar decurrere passu
Vidit et ad certam devotos tendere mortem,
" Tela tene iam, miles," ait " ferrumque ruenti
Subtrahe : non ullo eonstet mihi sanguine bellum.
Vincitur baud gratis, iugulo qui provocat hostem.
En, sibi vilis adest invisa luce iuventus
lam damno peritura meo ; non sentiet ictus,
Incumbet gladiis, gaudebit sanguine fuso.
Deserat hie fervor mentes, cadat impetus amens,
Perdant velle mori." Sic deflagrare minaces
Incassum et vetito passus languescere bello,
Substituit merso dum nox sua lumina Phoebo.
Inde, ubi nulla data est miscendae copia mortis,
Paulatim fugit ira ferox mentesque tepescunt ;
Saucia maiores animos ut pectora gestant,
Dum dolor est ictusque recens et mobile nervis
Conamen calidus praebet cruor ossaque nondura
Adduxere cutem : si conscius ensis adacti
Stat victor tenuitque manus, turn frigidus artus
Alligat atque animum subducto robore torpor,

* A gladiator is meant.
194

BOOK IV

Next Caesar eagerly attempts to surround them, in
their lack of water, with a steep trench ; he will not
suffer their camp to reach the river banks or their
outworks to enclose abundant springs.

When the soldiers saw the path to death before
them, their fear was changed to headlong ardour.
Having slaughtered their horses, as powerless to
help men besieged, they were forced at last to
abandon hope and reject flight, and rushed upon the
foe with intent to perish. When Caesar saw the
devoted warriors coming on at full speed to meet
inevitable death, he called to his men, '' Hold your
weapons for a time and withdraw the sword from
him who rushes to meet it ; no lives of my own men
must be lost in the battle ; he who challenges the
foe with his life costs his victor dear. See ! they
come, hating life and holding themselves cheap, and
I must pay for their deaths : insensible to wounds,
they will fling themselves on the sword and rejoice
to shed their blood. This excitement must calm
down ; this wild enthusiasm must flag ; they must
lose their wish to die." So by refusing battle he
suffered their threats to burn down to nothing and
dwindle away, while the sun set and night replaced
his light with her own. Then, when no chance was
given them to kill and be killed, their ardour left
them by degrees and their minds lost heat. So a
wounded man ^ has higher courage, while his wound
and his pain are fresh, and while the warm blood
lends active force to the muscles, and before the
skin has shrunk over the bones ; but, if the con-
queror, aware that his sword has gone home, stands
still and refrains from striking, then cold numbness
binds both mind and body and steals strength away,

195

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Postquam sicca rigens astrinxit volnera sanguis,
lamque inopes undae primum tellure refossa
Occultos latices abstrusaque flumina quaerunt ;
Nee solum rastris durisque ligonibus arva
Sed gladiis fodere suis, puteusque cavati 295

Montis ad inrigui premitur fastigia campi.
Non se tarn penitus, tarn longe luce relicta
Merserit Astyrici scrutator pallidus auri.
Non tamen aut tectis sonuerunt cursibus amnes,
Aut micuere novi percusso pumice fontes, 300

Antra neque exiguo stillant sudantia rore,
Aut inpulsa levi turbatur glarea vena.
Tunc exhausta super multo sudore iuventus
Extrahitur duris silicum lassata metallis ;
Quoque minus possent siccos tolerare vapores, 305

Quaesitae fecistis aquae. Nee languida fessi
Corpora sustentant epulis, mensasque perosi
Auxilium fecere famem. Si mollius arvum
Prodidit umorem, pingues manus utraque glaebas
Exprimit ora super ; nigro si turbida limo 310

Conluvies inmota iacet, cadit omnis in haustus
Certatim obscaenos miles moriensque recepit
Quas nollet victurus aquas ; rituque ferarum
Distentas siccant pecudes, et lacte negato
Sordidus exhausto sorbetur ab ubere sanguis. 315

Tunc herbas frondesque terunt et rore madentes
Destringunt ramos et si quos pal mite crude
Arboris aut tenera sucos pressere medulla.
O fortunati, fugiens quos barbarus hostis
Fontibus inmixto stravit per rura veneno. 320

Hos licet in fluvios saniem tabemque ferarum,
196

BOOK IV

after the congealing blood has closed the drying
wounds. And now, in their shortage of water, they
begin by digging in search of hidden springs and
underground streams ; as well as iron rakes and picks
they use their swords to pierce the soil ; and wells
in the excavated hillside are sunk to the level of
the watered plain. I'he pale searcher after Asturian
gold would not bury himself so deep, or leave day-
light so far behind. But there was no sound of
rivers with hidden courses, no new springs gushed
from the smitten rock, no dripping caves oozed forth
a scanty moisture, no gravel was stirred and lifted
even by a slender vein of water. Then the men
are hauled up to the surface, worn out with heavy
labour and wearied by mining in the flint ; and their
quest for water has made them less able to endure
the drought and heat. Nor was their bodily weak-
ness and weariness supported by food : they abhorred
all meat and called in hunger to help them against
thirst. Wherever soft soil betrayed moisture, they
squeezed the oozy clods over their mouths with both
hands. Where pools of stagnant filth were caked
with black mire, each man fell down eager for the
foul draught, and dying swallowed water which, with
a prospect of life, he would have refused ; like wild
beasts they drained the swollen udders of cattle,
and, if milk was denied, sucked the pallid blood
from the empty teats. Next, they pounded grass
and leaves, and stripped the dew off branches, and
brushed off any moisture they could squeeze from
the green shoots or soft pith of trees.

Happy are those whom a barbarian foe, as he fled,
has laid low upon the fields by mingling poison in the
springs. Into the Spanish rivers Caesar may pour

197

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Pallida Dictaeis, Caesar, nascentia saxis

Infundas aconita palam, Romana iuventus

Non decepta bibet. Torrentur viscera flamma,

Oraque sicca rigent squamosis aspera Unguis ; 325

lam marcent venae, nuUoque umore rigatus

Aeris alternos angustat pulmo meatus,

Rescissoque nocent suspiria dura palato ;

Pandunt ora tamen nociturumque ^ aera captant.

Expectant imbres, quorum modo cuncta natabant 330

Inpulsu, et siccis voltus in nubibus haerent.

Quoque magis miseros undae ieiunia solvant,

Non super arentem Meroen Cancrique sub axe.

Qua nudi Garamantes arant, sedere, sed inter

Stagnantem Sicorim et rapidum deprensus Hiberum 336

Spectat vicinos sitiens exercitus amnes.

lam domiti cessere duces, pacisque petendae
Auctor damnatis supplex Afranius armis
Semianimes in castra trahens hostilia turmas
Victoris stetit ante pedes. Servata precanti 340

Maiestas non fracta malis, interque priorem
Fortunam casusque novos gerit omnia victi,
Sed ducis, et veniam securo pectore poscit :
" Si me degeneri stravissent fata sub hoste,
Non derat fortis rapiendo dextera leto. 346

At nunc causa mihi est orandae sola salutis,
Dignum donanda, Caesar, te credere vita.
Non partis studiis agimur nee sumpsimus arma

^ nociturum Vorville : nocturnum MSB,
198

BOOK IV

without concealment gore and the carrion of wild
beasts, and the deadly aconite which grows on the
rocks of Crete ; and Roman soldiers will drink with
their eyes open. Their inward parts are burnt with
fire ; their mouths are dry and hard, and rough with
scaly tongues ; by now their pulses flag, and their lungs,
wetted by no moisture, choke the passage of air to
and fro ; and their difficult breathing is painful to
their cracked palates ; yet still they open their mouths,
eager for the air that will prove their bane. They
hope for rain — rain, whose downpour lately flooded
all the land ; and they fix their gaze on the rainless
clouds. And, that the water-famine may break
them down still more in their misery, their camp is
not pitched beyond burning Meroe and beneath the
sign of Cancer, where the naked Garamantes dwell ;
but the army, entrapped between the brimming
Sicoris and the rapid Hiberus, can see the rivers
close at hand while dying of thirst.

At last the leaders were overcome and yielded :
Afranius advised that terms should be sought ;
despairing of resistance, he took with him squadrons
of half-dead men to the enemy's camp, and stood in
supplication before the conqueror's feet. The
suppliant maintained his dignity unbroken by
disaster ; between his former high position and his
recent misfortune, he had all the bearing of a
general, though a defeated general, and he asked
pardon with a mind at ease : " Had Fortune laid me
low beneath an unworthy foeman, my own strong
arm would not have failed to snatch death by
violence ; as it is, my sole reason for begging life is
that I consider you, Caesar, worthy to grant it. We
are not moved by party spirit ; nor did we take up

199

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Consiliis inimica tuis. Nos denique bellum
Invenit civile duces, causaeque priori, 350

Diim potuit, servata fides. Nil fata moramur :
Tradimus Hesperias gentes, aperimus Eoas,
Securumqiie orbis patimur post terga relicti.
Nee cruor effusus campis tibi bella peregit
Nee ferrum lassaeque manus : hoc hostibus unum, 355
Quod vincas, ignosce tuis. Nee magna petuntur :
Otia des fessis, vitam patiaris inermes
Degere quam tribuis. Campis prostrata iacere
Agmina nostra putes ; nee enim felicibus armis
Misceri damnata decet, partemque triumphi 360

Captos ferre tui ; turba haec sua fata peregit.
Hoc petimus, victos ne tecum vincere cogas."
Dixerat ; at Caesar facilis voltuque serenus
Fleetitur atque usus belli poenamque remittit.
Ut primum iustae placuerunt foedera pacis, 366

Incustoditos decurrit miles ad amiies,
Incumbit ripis permissaque flumina turbat.
Continuus multis subitarum tractus aquarum
Aera non passus vacuis discurrere venis
Artavit clausitque animam ; nee fervida pestis 370

Cedit ad hue, sed morbus egens iam gurgite plenis
Visceribus sibi poscit aquas. Mox robora nervis
Et vires rediere viris. O prodiga rerum
Luxuries numquam parvo con ten ta paratis

BOOK IV

arms in opposition to your designs. In fact, the
civil war found us at the head of an army ; and,
while we could, we were loyal to our former cause.
We make no attempt to hinder destiny ; to you we
surrender the nations of the West and open the way
to the East ; we enable you to feel no anxiety for
the region you leave in your rear. Your victory has
not been gained by blood poured forth upon the
plains, nor by the sword plied till the arm was
weary ; pardon your foes their one crime — that you
are victorious over us. We do not ask much : only
give rest to the weary, and suffer those to whom you
grant life to spend it unarmed. Deem that our ranks
lie prostrate on the field ; for captives must not share
in your triumph, nor warriors condemned by fate be
mingled with conquerors : my army has completed its
own destiny. This we beg — that you will not
compel us whom you have conquered to conquer
along with you."

Thus he spoke ; and Caesar readily gave way with
unclouded brow ; he excused them from service in
his army and from all punishment. As soon as the
treaty of peace was settled in due form, the men
rushed down to the unguarded rivers, lay down upon
the banks, and made muddy the streams thrown
open to them. While they gulped down the water,
the uninterru})ted draught prevented the air from
passing through the empty arteries : it contracted
and blocked the windpipes of many ; nor does the
burning plague yet abate, but the craving malady
demands yet more when the stomach is full of
water already. Soon the muscles recovered power,
and the soldiers grew strong again. O Luxury, ex-
travagant of resources and never satisfied with what

aoi

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Et quaesitorum terra pelagoque ciborum 376

Ambitiosa fames et lautae gloria mensae,

Discite, quam parvo liceat producere vitam

Et quantum natura petat. Non erigit aegros

Nobilis ignoto diffusus consule Bacchus,

Non auro murraque bibunt, sed gurgite puro 380

Vita redit. Satis est populis fluviusque Ceresque.

Heu miseri, qui bella gerunt ! Tunc arma relinquens
Victor! miles spoliato pectore tutus
Innocuusque suas curarum liber in urbes
Spargitur. O quantum donata pace potitos 385

Excussis umquam ferrum vibrasse lacertis
Paenituit, tolerasse sitim frustraque rogasse
Prospera bella deos ! Nempe usis Marte secundo
Tot dubiae restant acies, tot in orbe labores ;
Ut numquam fortuna labet successibus anceps, 390

Vincendum totiens ; terras fundendus in omnes
Est cruor et Caesar per tot sua fata sequendus.
Felix, qui potuit mundi nutante ruina
Quo iaceat lam scire loco. Non proelia fessos
Ulla vocant, certos non rumpunt classica somnos. 395
lam coniunx natique rudes et sordida tecta
Et non deductos recipit sua terra colonos.
Hoc quoque securis oneris fortuna remisit,
Sollicitus menti quod abest favor : ille salutis
Est auctor, dux ille fuit Sic proelia soli 400

202

BOOK IV

costs little ; and ostentatious hunger for dainties
sought over land and sea; and ye who take pride
in delicate eating — hence ye may learn how little
it costs to prolong life, and how little nature de-
mands. No famous vintage, bottled in the year of
a long forgotten consul, restores these to health ;
they drink not out of gold or agate, but gain new
life from pure water ; running water and bread are
enough for mankind.

Alas for those who still fight on ! These men
abandon their arms to the conqueror ; safe, though
they are stripped of their breast-plates, harmless
and free from care, they are scattered among their
native cities. Now that they possess the gift of
peace, how much they regret that they ever hurled
the steel with vigorous arms, and endured thirst,
and prayed mistakenly to the gods for victory ! For
the victors, it is sure, so many doubtful battles
and hardships over all the world still lie ahead ;
even though Fortune never fail — Fortune fickle in
her favours — still they must conquer again and again,
and shed their blood on every land, and follow
Caesar through all his chances and changes. When
the whole world is nodding to its fall, happy the
man who has been able to learn already the lowly
place appointed for him. No battles call them from
where they rest ; no trumpet-call breaks their sound
slumbers. They are welcomed now by their wives
and innocent babes, by their simple dwellings and
their native soil, nor are they settled there as
colonists. Of another burden too Fortune relieves
them : their minds are rid of the trouble of partisan-
ship ; for, if Caesar granted them their lives, Pompey
was once their leader. Thus they alone are happy,

203

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Felices nullo spectant civilia voto.

Non eadem belli totum fortuna per orbem
Constitit, in partes aliquid sed Caesaris ausa est.
Qua maris Hadriaci longas ferit unda Salonas
Et tepidum in molles Zephyros excurrit lader, 406

Illic bellaci confisus gente Curictum,
Quos alit Hadriaco tellus circumflua ponto,
Clauditur extrema residens Antonius ora,
Cautus ab incursu belli, si sola recedat,
Expugnat quae tuta, fames. Non pabula tellus 4

Pascendis summittit equis, non proserit ullam
Flava Ceres segetem ; spoliarat ^ gramine campum
Miles et attonso miseris iam dentibus arvo
Castrorum siccas de caespite volserat herbas.
Ut primum adversae socios in litore terrae 4

Et Basil um videre ducem, nova furta per aequor
Exquisita fugae. Neque enim de more carinas
Extendunt puppesque levant, sed firma gerendis
Molibus insolito contexunt robora ductu.
Namque ratem vacuae sustentant undique cupae, 4
Quarura porrectis series constricta catenis
Ordinibus geminis obliquas excipit alnos ;
Nee gerit expositum telis in fronte patenti
Remigium, sed, quod trabibus circumdedit aequor,
Hoc ferit et taciti praebet miracula cursus, 425

Quod nee vela ferat nee apertas verberet undas.

^ spoliarat Quietus : spoliabat MSS.

^ The town, not the river, of that name.

* Curicta is an island off the coast of Illyricum.

3 C. Antonius, brother of the triumvir, commanded a body

of Caesar's troops on the island ; Basilus with more of

204

d BOOK IV

looking on at civil war with no prayer for the success
of either.

The fortune of war did not remain unchanged all
the world over, but dared to strike one blow against
Caesar's side. Where the Adriatic wave beats on
the straggling town of Salonae, and where mild
lader^ runs out towards the soft West winds, there
Antonius, trusting in the warlike race of the
Curictae/ who dwell in an island surrounded by the

' Adriatic waters, was pent up within his camp on
the edge of the shore. He was safe against armed
attack, if only he could keep famine at bay — famine
which takes the impregnable fortress. The earth
sends up no fodder to feed his horses ; golden Ceres

I iputs forth no corn there ; the soldiers had robbed
the field of its grass; and, when they had nibbled
the blades close with starving teeth, they had torn
the withered tutXs from the sods that formed the
camp. As soon as they saw a friendly force com-
manded by Basilus ^ on the mainland opposite, they

^ devised a novel plan to steal in flight across the
deep. They built no long hulls, no high sterns, as
the custom is, but joined stout planks together on
unwonted lines to carry heavy structures. This
raft rested entirely upon empty barrels, a succession
K-.of which, lashed together in double rows by long
chains, supported the planks laid transversely across
them. Nor were the rowers she carried exposed to
missiles along an open front ; but they struck the
water enclosed by the timbers ; and the raft pre-

ir- sented the puzzle of mysterious motion, because it
carried no sail and did not thrash the waves visibly.

**' Caesar's men was at some point on the mainland ; and M.
Octavius, Pompey's admiral, held the coast.

205

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Turn freta servantur, dum se declivibus undis

Aestus agat refluoque mari nudentur harenae.

lamque relabenti crescebant litora ponto :

Missa ratis prono defertur lapsa profundo 430

Et geminae comites. Cunctas super ardua tiirris

Eminet et tremulis tabu lata minantia pinnis.

Noluit Illyricae custos Octavius undae

Confestim temptare ratem, celeresque carinas

Continuit, cursu crescat dum praeda secundo, 435

Et temere ingressos repetendum invitat ad aequor

I'ace maris. Sic, dum pavidos formidine cervos

C'laudat odoratae metuentes aera pinnae,

Aut dum dispositis attoUat retia varis,

Venator tenet ora levis clamosa Molossi, 440

Spartanos Cretasque ligat, nee creditur ulli

Silva cani, nisi qui presso vestigia rostro

Colligit et praeda nescit latrare reperta,

Contentus tremulo monstrasse cubilia loro.

Nee mora, conplentur moles, avideque petitis 446

Insula deseritur ratibus, quo tempore primas

Inpedit ad noctem iam lux extrema tenebras.

At Pompeianus fraudes innectere ponto

Antiqua parat arte Cilix, passusque vacare

Summa freti medio suspend it vincula ponto 450

Et laxe fluitare sinit, religatque catenas

Rupis ab Illyricae scopulis. Nee prima nee illam

Quae sequitur tardata ratis, sed tertia moles

"^ formido, "scare," was the name given to an arrangement
of coloured feathers, which prevented hunted animals from
breaking through.

2o6

BOOK IV

Next they watched the sea till the time when the
tide should move with downward-flowing waters and
the sand be left bare by the ebb. So, when the sea
began to flow back and the shore to grow, the raft
was launched and sped gliding down the current,
and her two consorts with her. High above each
rose a tower and stages that threatened with nodding
battlements. Octavius, who guarded the Illyrian
waters, would not at once attack the raft, but held
his swift ships back, until his prey should be increased
by a prosperous passage. When they had begun their
rash venture, he encouraged them, by leaving the sea
open, to try a second voyage. So the hunter pro-
ceeds: until he pens in the stags, alarmed by the
" scare "^ and dreading the scent of the tainted
feathers, or until he sets up his nets on the line
of props, he shuts the noisy mouth of the swift
Molossian hound, and keeps in leash the hounds of
Sparta and Crete ; the only dog allowed to range the
forest is he who puzzles out the scent with nose to
the ground and never thinks of barking when his
prey is discovered, content to indicate the creature's
lair by tugging at the leash. Soon the hulks are
manned ; eagerly they embark on the rafts and
abandon the island ; it was the time when the last
lingering light hinders the first darkness from bring-
ing on the night. But the Cilicians in Pompey's
pay, resorting to their ancient skill, prepared to lay
a trap in the sea. Leaving the surface empty, they
hung ropes at half the depth of the water and
suffered them to drift about at large, and bound
the cables to the cliffs of the Illyrian shore.
Neither the first raft nor the second was hampered,
but the third hulk stuck fast and was drawn to the

207

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Haesit et ad cautes adducto fune secuta est.
Inpendent cava saxa mari, ruituraque semper 456

Stat — mirum — moles et silvis aequor inumbrat.
Hue fractas Aquilone rates summersaque pontus
Corpora saepe tulit caecisque abscondit in antris ;
Restituit raptus tectum mare, cumque cavernae
Evomuere fretum, contorti vorticis undae 460

Tauromenitanam vincunt fervore Charybdim.
Hie Opiterginis moles onerata colonis
Constitit ; banc omni puppes station e solutae
Circumeunt, alii rupes ac litora conplent.
Vulteius tacitas sentit sub gurgite fraudes 4G5

— Dux erat ille ratis — frustra qui vincula ferro
Rumpere conatus poscit spe proelia nulla
Incertus qua terga daret, qua pectora bello.
Hoc tamen in casu, quantum deprensa valebat,
Effecit virtus : inter tot milia captae 470

Circumfusa rati et plenam vix inde cohortem
Pugna fuit, non longa quidem ; nam condidit umbra
Nox lucem dubiam, pacemque habuere tenebrae.

Tum sic attonitam venturaque fata paventem
Rexit magnanima Vulteius voce cohortem : 475

" Libera non ultra parva quam nocte inventus,
Consulite extremis angusto in tempore rebus.
Vita brevis nulli superest, qui tempus in ilia
Quaerendae sibi mortis habet ; nee gloria leti
Inferior, iuvenes, admoto occurrere fato. 480

Omnibus incerto venturae tempore vitae,

^ These men had been enlisted on Caesar's side at Opitergium
in Transpadane Gaul : the " ships " are those of Octavius.

2 Because he was surrounded by enemies.

^ admoto : the meaning is, that the credit of suicide is not
less when death is in any case close at hand than when it is
further away : the idea is repeated in 11. 482, 3.

2o8

BOOK IV

rocks when the rope was tightened. Hollow cliffs
overhang the sea, and their mass, ever in act to fall,
stands marvellously firm, and shadows the water
with trees. Hither the tide often bore ships wrecked
by the North wind and the bodies of drowned men,
and buried them in hidden caverns; but the sea
beneath the rocks restored its prey, and whenever
the caves vomited forth the tide, the waves of the
whirling eddy surpassed the fury of Sicilian Charybdis.
Here the hulk halted, weighed down with men of
Opitergium ; ^ and all the ships, casting loose from
their anchorage, surround it, while other foes cover
the rocks and the shore. Vulteius, the captain of
the raft, perceived the trap concealed beneath the
water, and tried in vain to sever the ropes with his
sword ; then he called for battle with no hope of
victory, not knowing - on which side he was offering
his back or his front to attack. Yet even in this
plight valour did all that valour could do, when
taken at a disadvantage : a battle was fought between
the many thousands who swarmed round the captured
raft and the men on board, who were barely six
hundred ; but the battle soon ended ; for the shades
of night hid the twilight, and the darkness brought
a truce.

Then thus Vulteius with noble speech kept his
men steady, appalled as they were with dread of
coming death : " Soldiers, free for no longer than
the brief space of a night, use the short interval to
decide upon your course in this extremity. No life
is short that gives a man time to slay himself; nor
does it lessen the glory of suicide to meet doom at
close quarters.^ For all men the future of life is
uncertain; and, though it is noble in the mind to

209

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Par animi laus est et, quos speraveris, annos

Perdere et extremae momentum abrumpere lueis,

Accersas dum fata manu ; non cogitur iillus

Velle mori. Fuga nulla patet, stant undique nostris 486

Intenti cives iugulis : decernite letum,

Et metus omnis abest. Cupias^ quodcumque necesse est.

Non tamen in caeca bellorum nube cadendum est,

Aut cum permixtas acies sua tela tenebris

Involvent Conferta iacent cum corpora campo, 490

In medium mors omnis abit, perit obruta virtus :

Nos in conspicua sociis hostique carina

Constituere dei. Praebebunt aequora testes,

Praebebunt terrae, summis dabit insula saxis,

Spectabunt geminae diverse litore partes. 496

Nescio quod nostris magnum et memorabile fatis

Exemplum, Fortuna, paras. Quaecumque per aevum

Exhibuit monimenta fides servataque ferro

Militiae pietas, transisset nostra iuventus.

Namque suis pro te gladiis incumbere, Caesar, 600

Esse parum scimus ; sed non maiora supersunt

Obsessis, tanti quae pignora demus amoris.

Abscidit nostrae multum fors invida laudi.

Quod non cum senibus capti natisque tenemur.

Indomitos sciat esse viros timeatque furentes 506

Et morti faciles animos et gaud eat hostis

Non plures haesisse rates. Temptare parabunt

Foederibus turpique volent corrumpere vita.

O utinam, quo plus habeat mors unica famae,

* I.e. from two different points on the shore.

• Had opportunity been granted.

2IO

BOOK IV

forfeit years that you look forward to, it is no less
noble to cut short even a moment of remaining life,
provided that you summon death by your own act.
No man is forced to die voluntarily. No escape is
open to us ; our countrymen surround us, eager for
our lives; resolve upon death, and then all fear is
dispelled : let a man desire whatever he cannot
avoid. Yet we are not compelled to fall on the
blind haze of battle, or when their own missiles
cover the confused armies with darkness. When
the dead lie thick upon the field, each death is
merged in a common account, and valour, thus over-
laid, is wasted. But us the gods have placed on a
ship that is seen by friend and foe : sea and land
and the topmost cliffs of the island will provide
witnesses ; the two parties from the two opposite
shores ^ will look on. By our death Fortune designs
some mighty and memorable example for posterity.
Our company would have surpassed ^ all records that
time has preserved of loyalty and military devotion,
maintained by the sword. For we know that it is
not enough for Caesar's men to fall upon their
swords in his defence ; but, hemmed in as we are,
we have no greater pledge to give of our deep
devotion. Grudging Fortune has subtracted much
from our glory, inasmuch as we are not held prisoners
together with our old men and our little ones. But
let the foe learn that our men are unconquerable;
let him dread the mad courage that welcomes death ;
and let him thank his stars that only one of the
rafts stuck fast. They will try to tempt us with
terms of peace, and will seek to bribe us by the
offer of dishonourable life. 1 wish that they would
promise pardon and encourage us to hope for life ;

211

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Promittant veniam, iubeant sperare salutem. 610

Ne nos, cum calido fodiemus viscera ferro,

Desperasse putent. Magna virtute merendum est,

Caesar ut amissis inter tot milia paucis

Hoc damnum clademque vocet. Dent fata recessum

Emittantque licet, vitare instantia nolim. 615

Proieci vitam, comites, totusque futurae

Mortis agor stimulis : furor est. Agnoscere soils

Permissum, quos iam tangit vicinia fati,

Victurosque dei celant, ut vivere durent,

Felix esse mori." Sic cunctas sustulit ardor 620

Mobilium^ mentes iuvenum. Cum sidera caeli

Ante ducis voces oculis umentibus omnes

Aspicerent flexoque Ursae temone paverent.

Idem, cum fortes animos praecepta subissent,

Optavere diem. Nee segnis vergere ponto 525

Tunc erat astra polus; nam sol Ledaea tenebat

Sidera, vicino cum lux altissima Cancro est ;

Nox turn Thessalicas urguebat parva sagittas.

Detegit orta dies stantes in rupibus Histros
Pugnacesque mari Graia cum classe Liburnos. 630

Temptavere prius suspenso vincere bello
Foederibus, fieret captis si dulcior ipsa
Mortis vita mora. Stabat devota iuventus
Damnata iam luce ferox securaque pugnae
^ Mobilium Bentley : Nobilium MSS.

1 Midsummer, when the sun is in Gemini and Sagittarius
(the Archer) is above the horizon all night.

212

BOOK IV

for so our matchless death would gain greater re-
nown, and they would not think, when they see us
pierce our vitals with the warm steel, that we have
abandoned hope. It requires a mighty deed of
valour to make Caesar, when he loses a few men
out of so many thousands, call it a disaster and a
defeat. Should Fate now suffer me to withdraw
and release me from her grasp, I should refuse to shun
what lies before me. I have cast life behind me,
comrades, and am wholly driven on by the excitement
of coming death ; it is a veritable possession. None
but those whom the approach of death already over-
shadows are suffered to know that death is a bless-
ing ; from those who have life before them the gods
conceal this, in order that they may go on living."
By his words the hearts of all the warriors were
changed, and swelled with martial ardour. Before
their leader spoke they all watched the stars in
heaven with weeping eyes, and trembled when the
pole of the Wain went round ; but now, when his
exhortation had sunk into their stout hearts, they
prayed for daylight. Nor at that season^ did the
sky take long to sink the stars in the sea ; for the
sun was in the constellation of Gemini, when his
disk reaches its zenith and Cancer is close at hand ;
short was the night that then brooded over the
Thessalian Archer.

Dawn came and revealed the Histrians posted on
the cliffs and the fierce Liburnians on the sea with the
Greek fleet. They suspended the fight and tried
first to conquer by agreement, hoping that the mere
postponement of death might make life sweeter to
the prisoners in the trap. But the devoted men
stood firm : contempt of life made them bold, and

213

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Promisso sibi fine manu, imllique tumultus 635

Excussere viris mentes ad summa paratas ;

Innumerasque simul pauci terraque marique

Sustinuere manus ; tanta est fiducia mortis.

Utque satis bello visum est fluxisse cruoris,

Versus ab hoste furor. Primus dux ipse carinae 640

Vulteius iugulo poscens iam fata reteeto

"Ecquis" ait "iuvenum est, cuius sit dextra cruore

Digna meo certaque fide per volnera nostra

Testetur se velle mori ? " Nee plura locuto

Viscera non unus iamdudum transigit ensis. 645

Conlaudat cunctos, sed eum, cui volnera prima

Debebat, grato moriens interficit ictu.

Concurrunt alii totumque in partibus unis

Bellorum fecere nefas. Sic semine Cadmi

Emicuit Dircaea cobors ceciditque suorum 650

Volneribus, dirum Thebanis fratribus omen ;

Phasidos et campis insomni dente creati

Terrigenae missa magicis e cantibus ira

Cognato tantos inplerunt sanguine sulcos,

Ipsaque, inexpertis quod primum fecerat lierbis, 655

Expavit Medea nefas. Sic mutua pacti

Fata cadunt iuvenes, minimumque in morte virorum

Mors virtutis habet. Pariter sternuntque caduntque

Volnere letali ; nee quemquam dextra fefellit.

Cum feriat moriente manu. Nee volnus adactis 660

Debetur gladiis : percussum est pectore ferrum.

* See note to i. 552.

* It needed more courage to kill their comrades than to face
death themselves.

214

BOOK IV

they were indifferent to the issue of the fight,
because they had engapjed to kill themselves ; no
uproar of assault could dislodge the resolution that
was prepared for the worst ; and their small company
withstood the countless hands that attacked them
by land and sea at once ; so great is the confidence
inspired by death. Then, when they deemed that
blood enough had been shed in battle, they turned
their fury away from the foe. First Vulteius him-
self, the captain of the craft, bared his throat and
called for death. "Is any soldier here," he cried,
"whose right arm is worthy of my blood, who will
prove his wish to die beyond all doubt by slaying
me ? " Before he could speak another word, his body
was pierced instantly by more swords than one. He
thanked them all, but dying slew with grateful stroke
him to whom he owed his first wound. Others met
in combat ; and there the horrors of civil war were
enacted in full by one faction alone. Thus from the
seed sown by Cadmus the Theban warriors started
up and were slain by the swords of their kinsmen —
a dismal omen for the Theban brothers ; ^ and thus
in the land of the Phasis the sons of Earth, who
sprang from the teeth of the sleepless dragon, filled
the vast furrows with kindred blood, when magic
spells had filled them with fury ; and Medea herself
was appalled by the first crime which her herbs,
untried before, had wrought. So the soldiers fell,
sworn to slay each other ; and in the death of those
heroes death itself called for least courage ;^ at the
same instant they dealt a fatal wound and received
it ; and no man's right hand failed him, though he
struck with dying arm. Nor were their wounds due
to the pressure of the sword ; but their breasts

215

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Et iuguli pressere manum. Cum sorte cruenta

Fratribus incurrunt fratres natusque parenti,

Haud trepidante tamen toto cum pondere dextra

Exegere enses. Pietas ferientibus una 665

Non repetisse fuit. lam latis viscera lapsa

Semianimes traxere foris multumque cruorem

Infudere mari. Despectam cernere lucem

V^ictoresque suos voltu spectare superbo

Et mortem sentire iuvat. lam strage cruenta 670

Conspicitur cumulata ratis^ bustisque remittunt

Corpora victores, ducibus mirantibus, ulli

Esse ducem tanti. Nullam maiore locuta est

Ore ratem totum discurrens Faraa per orbem.

Non tamen ignavae post haec exempla virorum 575

Percipient gentes, quam sit non ardua virtus

Servitium fugisse manu, sed regna timentur

Ob ferrum, et saevis liber tas uritur armis,

Ignorantque datos, ne quisquam serviat, enses.

Mors, utinam pavidos vitae subducere nolles, 580

Sed virtus te sola daret !

Non segnior illo
Marte fuit, qui tum Libycis exarsit in arvis.
Namque rates audax Lilybaeo litore solvit
Curio, nee forti velis Aquilone recepto
Inter semi ru tas magnae Carthaginis areas 685

Et Clipeam tenuit stationis litora notae,
Primaque castra locat cano procul aequore, qua se
Bagrada lentus agit siccae sulcator harenae.

2l6

BOOK IV

dashed against the steel, and their throats struck
the hand of the striker. At a time when murderous
destiny made brother rush on brother and son on
his fatlier, yet tlieir right hands never hesitated but
drove the sword home with all its weight. The only
proof of affection the slayer could give was to strike
no second blow. By now half dead, they dragged
their protruding entrails over the wide gangways and
poured streams of blood into the sea. They rejoice
to see the light they have rejected, to watch their
conquerors with disdainful eyes, and to feel the
approach of death. And now when the raft was
seen piled high with carnage, the victors yield up
the dead to the funeral pyre, while their leaders
marvel that any man should prize his leader so
highly. Fame, that flies abroad over the whole
earth, never spoke with louder voice of any vessel.
Yet even after the example set by these heroes,
cowardly nations will not understand how simple ^
feat it is to escape slavery by suicide ; and the
tyrant is dreaded for his sword, and freedom is
weighed down by cruel weapons, and men are
ignorant that the purpose of the sword is to save
every man from slavery. O that death were the
reward of the brave only, and would refuse to release
the coward from life !

No less fiercely the fire of war blazed up then in
the land of Libya. For bold Curio weighed anchor
on the shore of Sicily, and a gentle North wind
filled the sails, till he gained the shore of famous
anchorage between Clipea and the half-ruined
citadels of great Carthage. His first camp he pitched
at some distance from the hoary sea, where the
Bagrada slowly pushes on and furrows the thirsty

ik7

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

hide petit tumulos exesasque undique rupes,
Antaei quas regna vocat non vana vetustas. 690

Nominis antiqui cupientem noscere causas
Cognita per multos docuit rudis incola patres :
" Nondum post genitos Tellus effeta gigantas
Terribilem Libycis partum concepit in antris.
Nee tam iusta fuit terrarum gloria Typlion 695

Aut Tityos Briareusque ferox ; caeloque pepercit,
Quod non Phlegraeis Antaeum sustulit arvis.
Hoc quoque tam vastas cumulavit munere vires
Terra sui fetus, quod, cum tetigere parentem,
lam defecta vigent renovato robore membra. 600

Haec illi spelunca domus ; latuisse sub alta
Rape ferunt, epulas raptos habuisse leones ;
Ad somnos non terga ferae praebere cubile
Adsuerunt, non silva torum, viresque resumit
In nuda tellure iacens. Periere coloni 605

Arvorum Libyae, pereunt quos^appulit aequor;
Anxilioque diu virtus non usa cadendi
Terrae spernit oj)es : invictus robore cunctis,
Quamvis staret, erat. Tandem volgata cruenti
Fama mali terras monstris aequorque levantem 610

Maguanimum Alciden Libycas excivit in oras.
Ille Cleonaei proiecit terga leonis,
Antaeus Libyci ; perfundit membra liquore
Hospes Olympiacae servato more palaestrae,

1 Where the other giants fought against the gods.
« This was the invariable garment of Hercules, and he threw
it down before wrestling,

2l8

BOOK IV

sand. From there he marched to the rocky eminence,
hollowed out on all sides, which tradition with good
reason calls the realm of Antaeus. When he sought
to learn the origin of that ancient name, he was told
by an unlettered countryman a tale handed down
through many generations :

" Even after the birth of the Giants Earth was not
past bearing, and she conceived a fearsome offspring
in the caves of Libya. She had more cause to boast
of him than of Typhon or Tityos and fierce Briareus ;
and she dealt mercifully with the gods when she did
not raise up Antaeus on the field of Phlegra.^
Further she crowned the vast strength of her child
with this gift, that his limbs, whenever they touched
their mother, recovered from weariness and renewed
their strength. Yonder cave was his dwelling ; men
say that he hid beneath the towering cliff and feasted
on the lions he had carried off; when he slept, no
skins of wild beasts made him a bed, nor did the trees
supply him with bedding ; but his custom was to lie
on the bare earth and so recover strength. He slew
the tillers of the Libyan fields ; he slew the strangers
whom the sea brought to the shore ; and for long, in
his might, he spurned his mother's aid and never
availed himself of the help that falling gave ; so
strong was he that even wlien he stood upright none
could overcome him. The hero Alcides was then
ridding land and sea of monsters, when the widespread
report of this bloodstained ogre summoned him to
the borders of Libya. Down on the ground he threw
the skin of the Nemean lion ^ ; the skin that Antaeus
threw down came from a lion of Libya. The stranger,
faithful to the fashion of wrestlers at Olynipia,
drenched his limbs with oil ; the other, not trusting

219

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Ille parum fidens pedibus contingere matrem 615

Auxilium membris calidas infudit harenas.

Conseruere manus et multo bracchia nexu ;

Colla diu gravibus frustra temptata lacertis,

Inmotumque caput fixa cum fronte tenetur ;

Miranturque habuisse parem. Nee viribus uti 620

Alcides primo voluit certamine totis,

Exhausitque virum, quod creber anhelitus illi

Prodidit et gelidus fesso de corpore sudor.

Turn cervix lassata quati, turn pectore pectus

Urgueri, tunc obliqua percussa labare 625

Crura rhanu. lani terga viri cedentia victor

Alligat et medium conpressis ilibus artat

Inguinaque insertis pedibus distendit et omnem

Explicuit per membra virum. Rapit arida tellus

Sudorem: calido conplentur sanguine venae, 630

Intumuere tori, totosque induruit artus

Herculeosque novo laxavit corjiore nodos.

Constitit Alcides stupefactus robore tanto,

Nee sic Inachiis, quamvis rudis esset, in undis

Desectam timuit reparatis anguibus hydram. 635

Gonflixere pares, Telluris viribus ille,

Ille suis. Numquam saevae sperare novercae

Plus licuit ; videt exhaustos sudoribus artus

Cervicemque viri, siccam cum ferret Olympum.

tJtque iterum fessis iniecit bracchia membris, 640

Non expectatis Antaeus viribus hostis

Sppnte cadit maiorque accepto robore surgit.

* Hera, the wife of Zeus.
220

' ' BOOK IV

to contact with his mother Earth by means of his
feet alone, poured hot sand over his hmbs to help
him. They locked hands and arms in manifold
embrace; for long they tried the strength of each
other's necks with the pressure of arms, without
result ; each head remained unmoved with steadfast
forehead; each marvelled to find that his match
existed on earth. Unwilling to put forth all his
strength at the beginning of the contest, Alcides
wore down his opponent ; and this was made clear to
him by the quick panting and the cold sweat that
poured from the weary frame. Soon his neck flagged
and gave way, soon breast was borne down by breast,
soon the legs tottered, struck by a sidelong blow of
the fist. Then the victor pins his foe's yielding back,
hugs his loins and squeezes his middle, thrusts his
own feet to part the thighs, and lays his man at full
length upon the ground, from top to toe. But, when
the dry earth eagerly drank his sweat, his veins were
replenished with warm blood, his muscles swelled out,
his whole frame grew tough, and he loosened the
grip of Hercules with fresh strength. Alcides stood
astonished by such great might : even by the waters
of Inachus, though he was inexperienced then, he felt
less fear of the chopped Hydra when her snakes grew
again. The combatants were well matched, one
fighting with the strength of Earth, the other with
his own. Never was the cruel stepmother^ of
Hercules more sanguine of success : she sees his body
and his neck worn out with toil — that neck that
never sweated when it supported Olympus. He
grappled a second time with his weary foe ; but
Antaeus, without waiting for the pressure of his
antagonist, fell down voluntarily and rose up more

221

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Quisquis inest terris in fessos spiritus artus

Egeritur, Tellusque viro luctante laborat.

Ut tandem auxilium tactae prodesse parentis 646

Alcides sensit, ' Standum est tibi/ dixit ' et ultra

Non credere solo, sternique vetabere terra.

Haerebis pressis intra niea pectora membris :

Hue, Antaee, cades.' Sic fatus sustulit alte

Nitentem in terras iuvenem. Morientis in artus 650

Non potuit nati Tellus permittere vires :

Alcides medio tenuit iam pectora pigro

Stricta gelu terrisque diu non credidit hostem.

Hinc, aevi veteris custos, famosa vetustas

Miratrixque sui signavit nomine terras. 655

Sed maiora dedit cognomina collibus istis

Poenum qui Latiis revocavit ab arcibus hostem

Scipio ; nam sedes Libyca tellure potito

Haec fuit. En, veteris cernis vestigia valli.

Romana hos primum tenuit victoria campos.** 660

Curio laetatus, tamquam fortuna locorum
Bella gerat servetque ducum sibi fata priorum,
Felici non fausta loco tentoria ponens
Indulsit castris et collibus abstulit omen,
Sollicitatque feros non acquis viribus hostes. 665

Omnis Romanis quae cesserat Africa signis,
Tum Vari sub iure fuit ; qui robore quamquam
Confisus Latio regis tamen undique vires
Uh

* Hannibal.
232

BOOK IV

mighty with an accession of strength. All the vital
power that resides in the earth poured into his
wearied limbs ; and Earth suffers in the wrestling-
match of her son. When at last Alcides perceived
that his foe got help by contact with his mother,
* You must stand upright ' said he ; 'no more will I
trust you to the ground or suffer you to lie down upon
the earth ; here you shall remain, with your body
clasped in my embrace ; if you fall, Antaeus, you
shall fall on me.' Thus Alcides spoke and lifted
on high the giant who struggled to gain the ground,
Earth was unable to convey strength into the frame
of her dying son ; for Alcides, standing between,
gripped the breast that was already stiff with cold
obstruction, and refused for long to trust his foe to
the earth. Hence the land has got its name from
long tradition which treasures the past and thinks
highly of itself. But a greater name was given to
these heights by Scipio, when he brought the
Carthaginian invader^ back from the citadels of
Latium. Here he encamped when he reached the
soil of Libya; yonder you see the remains of his
ancient rampart ; these are the fields which the
Roman conqueror first occupied."

Curio heard this with joy, believing that the lucky
spot would fight for him, and repeat for him the
success of former leaders. Pitching his ill-starred
tents on that lucky ground, he trusted too much
to his encampment and robbed the heights of their
good fortune. He challenged a fierce enemy who
was too strong for him.

All of Africa that had yielded to the Roman arms
was then commanded by Varus ; and he, though
he relied on Roman soldiers, nevertheless summoned

223

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Excivity Libycas gentes, extremaque mundi

Signa suum comitata lubam. Non fusior ulli 670

Terra fuit domino : qua sunt longissima, regna

Cardine ab occiduo vicinus Gadibus Atlas

Terminat, a medio confinis Syrtibus Hammon ;

At, qua lata iacet, vasti plaga fervida regni

Distinet Oceanum zonaeque exusta calentis. 676

Sufficiurit spatio populi : tot castra secuntur,

Autololes Numidaeque vagi semperque paratus

Jiiculto Gaetulus equo, turn concolor Indo

Maurus, inops Nasamon, mixti Garamante perusto

Marraaridae volucres, aequaturusque sagittas 680

Medorum, tremulum cum torsit missile^ Mazax,

Et gens quae nudo residens Massylia dorso

Ora levi flectit frenorum nescia virga,

lit solitus vacuis errare mapalibus Afer

Venator, ferrique simul fiducia non est, 686

Vestibus iratos laxis operire leones.

Nee solum studiis civilibus arma parabat

Privatae sed bella dabat luba concitus irae.

Hunc quoque, quo superos humanaque poUuit anno,

Lege tribunicia solio depellere avorum 690

Curio temptarat, Libyamque auferre tyranno

Dum regnum te, Roma, facit. Memor ille doloris

Hoc bellum sceptri fructum putat esse retenti.

Hae igitur regis trepidat iam Curio fama.

By the "Ocean" is meant the sea to the north of t

M^uretania.

■^ 50 JB.o., in which year Curio was tribune.
224

BOOK IV

from every quarter the forces of King Juba — the
nations of Libya and the troops from the world's end
that followed their king to battle. No ruler pos-
sessed a broader realm tlian he : at its greatest
length his kingdom is bounded on its western point
by Atlas, neighbour of Gades, and on the East by
Ammon, bordering on the Syrtes ; and on the line
of its breadth, the hot region of his huge domain
separates the Ocean ^ from the burnt-up torrid zone.
The population matches the area : the king's camp
is followed by so many tribes — Autololes, unsettled
Numidians, and Gaetulians good at need with their
bare-backed horses ; then there are Moors black
as Indians, needy Nasamonians, swift Marmaridae
joined with sun-blackened Garamantes, Mazaces
who can rival the archery of the Parthians when
they hurl their quivering javelins, and the Massylian
people, who ride barebacked and use a light switch
to guide their horses whose mouths have never felt
the bit; there follows too the African hunter, whose
habit it is to stray through deserted villages and
to smother angry lions in the folds of his garment,
when he has lost confidence in his spear. Not
party zeal alone stirred up Juba to arms : war was
a concession to personal anger as well. For Curio,
in that year^ during which he outraged heaven and
earth, had also tried to dislodge Juba from his
ancestral throne by means of a tribune's law — he
sought, at the same tune, to take Africa from its
rightful king and to set up a king at Rome ! Juba,
nursing his grievance, considered this war the chief
advantage he had gained by retaining his crown.
Hence this rumour of the king now alarmed Curio.
He was alarmed also because his soldiers had never

225

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Et quod Caesareis numquam devota iuventus 695

Ilia nimis castris nee Rlieni miles in undis

Exploratus erat, Corfini captus in arce,

Infidusque novis ducibus dubiusque priori

Fas utrumque putat. Sed postquam languida segni

Cernit cuncta metu nocturnaque munera valli 700

Desolata fuga, trepida sic mente profatur :

" Audendo magnus tegitur tinior ; arma capessam
Ipse prior. Campum miles descendat in aequum,
Dum mens est ; variam semper dant otia mentem.
Eripe consilium pugna : cum dira voluptas 705

Ense subit presso^ galeae texere pudorem,
Quis conferre duces meminit? quis pendere causas?
Qua stetit, inde favet; veluti fatalis harenae
Muneribus non ira vetus concurrere cogit
Productos, odere pares." Sic fatus apertis 71ft

Instruxit campis acies ; quem blanda futuris
Deceptura malis belli fortuna recepit.
Nam pepulit Varum campo nudataque foeda
Terga fuga, donee vetuerunt castra, cecidit.

Tristia sed postquam superati proelia Vari 715

Sunt audita lubae, laetus, quod gloria belli
Sit rebus servata suis^ lapit agmina furtim,
Obscuratque suam per iussa silentia famam
Hoc solum incauto metuentis^ ab hoste, timeri.

^ incauto metuentis Hmismnn : metuens incauto M88.

1 Comp. ii. 478 ff.
226

BOOK IV

been overmuch devoted to Caesar's cause : never
tested on the waters of the Rhine, they had been
taken prisoners in the citadel of Corfinium^ ; faithless
to their leader before and distrusted by Curio now,
they think it lawful to take either side. But when

^,., Curio saw the slackness of sluggish fear on every
^^ hand, and the nightly service on the ramparts left
undone by desertion, he spoke thus in the trouble
, of his soul :

" Boldness is a mask for fear, however great ; I
will take the field before the foe. Let my soldiers,

or.', while they are still mine, march down to the level
ground. Idleness is ever the root of indecision ;
snatch from them by battle the power to form a
plan ; once the dreadful passion rises, once the
sword is grasped and the helmet hides the blush
of shame, who thinks then of comparing leaders or
balancing causes .'* Each man backs the side on
which he stands. So those who are brought
forth at the shows of the deathly arena are not
driven to fight by long-cherished anger : they hate
whoever is pitted against tliem." Thus he spoke
and drew up his line upon the open plain ; and the
fortune of war, meaning to betray him by future
disasters, welcomed him now with smiles; for he
drove Varus from the field and cut up his defenceless
rear in shameful flight until the camp put a stop to
the pursuit.

But when Juba heard of the lost battle of con-
quered Varus, he rejoiced that the glory of the
campaign was reserved for his arms. He marched
in haste and secrecy, masking the report of his
movement by enforcing silence ; his one fear was
that his rash foe might feel fear of him. Sabbura,

227

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Mittitur, exigua qui proelia prima lacessat 72(

Eliciatque manu, Numidis a rege secundiis,

Ut sibi commissi simulator Sabbura belli ;

Ipse cava regni vires in valle retentat :

Aspidas ut Pliarias cauda sollertior hostis

Ludit et iratas incerta provocat umbra 72;

Obliquusque caput vanas serpentis in auras

Effusae tuto conprendit guttura morsu

Letiferam citra saniem ; tunc inrita pestis

Exprimitur, faucesque fluunt pereunte veneno.

Fraudibus eventum dederat fortuna, feroxque 73(

Non exploratis occulti viribus hostis

Curio nocturnum castris erumpere cogit

Ignotisque equitem late decurrere campis.

Ipse sub aurorae primos excedere motus

Signa iubet castris, multum frustraque rogatus, Idl

Ut Libycas metuat fraudes infectaque semper j

Punica bella dolis. Leti fortuna propinqui

Tradiderat fatis iuvenem, bellumque trahebat

Auctorem civile suum. Super ardua ducit

Saxa, super cautes abrupt© limite signa, 74(

Cum procul e summis conspecti collibus hostes

Fraude sua cessere parum, dum colle relicto

Effusara patulis aciem committeret arvis.

Ille fugam credens simulatae nescius artis,

Ut victor, mersos aciem deiecit in agros. 741

Ut primum patuere doli, Numidaeque fugaces

Undique conpletis clauserunt montibus agmen,

.l«sA ^o ' The ichneumon.
228

BOOK IV

second to tlie king in command of the Numidians,
was sent out with a small force to challenge the
foe and tempt them to begin battle ; he was to
sham an attack and pretend that he was in charge
of it, while the king kept back his main body in a
hollow valley. So snakes in Egypt are fooled by
the craftier foe^ with his tail: he stirs up their
wrath with its flickering shadow, while the snake

^^ spends its force upon the air in vain, and then,
holding his head aslant, he grips the throat and bites
in safety, too close for the deadly fluid to touch
him ; at last the baffled bane is squeezed forth, and
the poison streams idly from the throat. Fortune
gave success to the trick ; and daring Curio, without

■ reconnoitring the strength of his hidden foe, made
his cavalry sally forth from the camp by night and
range far and wide over the unknown plains. He
himself at the first stirring of dawn bids his infantry
leave their camp ; in vain was he warned repeatedly
to beware of Libyan deceit and Punic warfare ever

If) tainted by guile. The doom of speedy death had
handed the youth over to destruction, and civil
war was claiming the man who made it. Along a
perilous path he led his men, over high rocks and
cliffs, and then the enemy was sighted far away
from the top of the hills. They, with their native

,; craft, drew back a little, till he should leave the
height and trust his army in loose array to the
open fields. Curio, ignorant of their treacherous
device, believed that they were fleeing, and, as if
victorious, marched his army down to the fields
below. As soon as the trick was revealed, and the

;;, light Numidian cavalry covered the heights and
surrounded the Romans on every side, the leader

229

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Obstipuit dux ipse simul perituraque turba.

Non timidi petiere fugam, non proelia fortes.

Quippe ubi non sonipes motus clangore tubarum 750

Saxa quatit pulsu rigidos vexantia frenos

Ora terens spargitque iubas et subrigit aures

Incertoque pedum pugnat non stare tumultu;

Fessa facet cervix, fumant sudoribus artus,

Oraque proiecta squalent arentia lingua, 766!

Pectora rauca gemunt, quae creber anhelitus urguet,

Et defecta gravis longe traliit ilia pulsus,

Siccaque sanguineis durescit spuma lupatis.

lamque gradum, neque verberibus stimulisque coacti

Nee quamvis crebris iussi calcaribus, addunt : 700

V'olneribus coguntur equi ; nee profuit ulli

Cornipedis rupisse moras, neque enim inpetus ille

Incursusque fuit : tan turn perfertur ad hostes

Et spatium iaculis oblato volnere donat.

At, vagus Afer equos ut primum emisit in agmen, 765

Turn campi tremuere sono, terraque soluta,

Quantus Bistonio torquetur turbine, pulvis

Aera nube sua texit traxitque tenebras.

Ut vero in pedites fatum miserabile belli

Incubuit, nullo dubii discrimine Martis 770

Ancipites steterunt casus, sed tempora pugnae

Mors tenuit; neque enim licuit procurrere contra

Et miscere manus. Sic undique saepta iuventus

Comminus obliquis et rectis eminus hastis

Obruitur, non volneribus nee sanguine solum, 775

230

BOOK IV

himself and his doomed army were stupefied alike :
the coward did not flee, nor the brave man fight.
For there the war-horse was not roused by the
trumpet's blare, nor did he scatter the stones with
stamping hoof, or champ the hard bit that chafes
his mouth, with flying mane and ears erect, or refuse
to stand still, and shift his clattering feet. The
weary neck sinks down, the limbs reek with sweat,
the tongue protrudes and the mouth is rough and
dry ; the lungs, driven by quick pants, give a hoarse
murmur ; the labouring breath works the spent
flanks hard ; and the froth dries and cakes on the
blood-stained bit. Now the horses refuse to go
faster, though urged by blows and goads and called
on by constant spurring : they are stabbed to make
them move ; yet no man profited by overcoming the
resistance of his horse ; for no charge and onset was
possible there : the rider was merely carried close
to the foe and, by offering a mark, saved the javelin
a long flight. But as soon as the African skirmishers
launched their steeds at the host, the plains shook
with their trampling, the earth was loosened, and
a pillar of dust, vast as is whirled by Thracian
stormwinds, veiled the sky with its cloud and
brought on darkness. And when the piteous doom
of battle bore down u{)on the Roman infantry, the
issue never hung uncertain through any chance of
war's lottery, but all the time of fighting was filled
by death : it was impossible to rush forward in
attack and close with the enemy. So the soldiers,
surrounded on all sides, were crushed by slanting
thrusts from close quarters and spears hurled straight
forward from a distance — doomed to destruction not
merely by wounds and blood but by the hail of

23T

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Telorura nimbo peritura et pondere ferri.
Ergo acies tantae parvum spissantur in orbem,
Ac, si quis metuens medium correpsit in aguicn,
Vix inpune suos inter convertitur enses ;
Densaturque globus, quantum pede prima relato
Cpnstrinxit gyros acies. Non arma movendi
lam locus est pressis, stipataque membra teruntur ;
Frangitur armatum conliso pectore pectus.
Non tam laeta tulit victor spectacula Maurus
Quam fortuna dabat ; fluvios non ille eruoris
Membrorumque videt lapsum et ferientia terram
Corpora : conpressum turba stetit omne cadaver.

Excitet invisas dirae Carthaginis umbras
Inferiis Fortuna no vis, ferat ista cruentus
Hannibal et Poeni tam dira piacula manes.
Romanam, superi, Libyca tellure ruinam
Pompeio prodesse nefas votisque senatus !
Africa nos potius vincat sibi. Curio, fusas
Ut vidit campis acies et cernere tantas
Permisit clades conpressus sanguine pulvis,
Non tulit adflictis animam producere rebus
Aut sperare fugam, ceciditque in strage suorum
Inpiger ad letum et fortis virtute coacta.

Quid nunc rostra tibi prosunt turba ta forumque,
Unde tribunicia plebeius signifer arce
Arma dubas populis ? quid prodita iura senatus
232

BOOK IV

weapons and the sheer weight of steel. Thus a
great army was crowded into a small compass ;
and, if any man in fear crawled into the midst of
the press, he could scarce move about unhurt
amonor the swords of his comrades ; and the pack
grew thicker, whenever the foremost rank stepped
back and narrowed the circle. The crowded soldiers
have no longer space to ply their weapons; their
bodies are squeezed and ground together ; and the
armoured breast is broken by pressure against
another breast. The victorious Moors did not enjoy
to the full the spectacle that Fortune granted them :
they could not see the rivers of blood, the collapsing
limbs, and the bodies striking the ground ; for
each dead man was held bolt upright by the dense
array.

Let Fortune call to life the hated ghost of dread
Carthage to enjoy this new sacrifice ; let blood-
stained Hannibal and his Carthaginian dead accept
this awful expiation ! But it is an outrage, ye gods,
that the fall of Romans on Libyan soil should for-
ward the success of Pompey and the desires of the
Senate. Rather let Africa defeat us for her own
objects. When Curio saw his ranks prostrate on
the field, and when the dust was laid by blood, so
that he could survey that awful carnage, he would
not stoop to survive defeat or hope for escape, but
fell amid the corpses of his men, prompt to face
death and brave with the courage of despair.

What does it avail him now that he stirred up
turmoil on the Rostrum in the Forum — that strong-
hold of the tribunes, where he bore the standard
of the populace and from which he armed all
nations ? What avails it that he betrayed the rights

233

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Et gener atque socer hello concurrere iussi ?
Ante iaces quam dira duces Pharsalia confert,
Spectandumque tibi bellum civile negatum est.
Has urbi miserae vestro de sanguine poenas
Ferre datis, luitis iugulo sic arma, potentes.
Felix Roma quidem civesque habitura beatos,
Si libertatis superis tarn cura placeret
Quam vindicta placet. Libycas en, nobile corpus,
Pascit aves nullo contectus Curio busto.
At tibi nos, quando non proderit ista silere
A quibus omne aevi senium sua fama repellit,
Digna damus, iuvenis, meritae praeconia vitae.
Haud alium tanta civem tulit indole Roma,
Aut cui plus leges deberent recta sequenti.
Perdita tunc urbi nocuerunt saecula, postquam
Ambitus et luxus et opum metuenda facultas
Transverso mentem dubiam torrente tulerunt ;
Momentumque fuit mutatus Curio rerum
Gallorum captus spoliis et Caesaris auro.
lus licet in iugulos nostros sibi fecerit ensis
Sulla potens Mariusque ferox et Cinna cruentus
Caesareaeque domus series, cui tanta potestas
Concessa est ? emere omnes, hie vendidit urbem.

234

BOOK IV

of the Senate and bade Pompey and his wife's father
meet in the clasii of arms? Low he lies, before
the fatal field of Pharsalia confronts the leaders ;
and the spectacle of civil war is withheld from him.
This is the penalty which the great ones of the
earth suffer their unhappy country to exact ; thus
they pay for the wars they make with their own
blood and their own deaths. Fortunate indeed
would Rome be, and happy her citizens hereafter,
if the gods were as careful to preserve her freedom
as they are to avenge it.^ Behold ! the unburied
body of Curio, a noble carrion, feeds the birds of
Libya. But to suppress those deeds which are
insured by their own glory against all decay of time
will not avail ; and therefore we award a due meed
of praise to the praiseworthy part of his life. Rome
never bore a citizen of such high promise, nor one
to whom the constitution owed more while he trod
the right path. But then the corruption of the age
proved fatal to the State, when ambition and luxury
and the formidable^ power of wealth swept away
with their cross-current the unstable principles of
Curio ; and, when he yielded to the booty of Gaul
and Caesar's gold, his change turned the scale of
history. Though powerful Sulla and bold Marius,
like bloodstained Cinna and all the line of Caesar's
house, secured the power to use the sword against
our throats, yet to none of them was granted so
high a privilege ; for they all bought their country,
but Curio sold it.

* I.e. "to punish those who rob Rome of freedom."

* /.«. to its possessor.

235

m

I

BOOK V

LIBER QUINTUS

Sic altema duces bellorum volnera passos
In Macetum terras miscens adversa secundis
Servavit fortuna pares. lam sparserat Haemo
Bruma nives geJidoque cadens Atlantis Olynipo,
Instabatque dies, qui dat nova nomina fastis
Quique colit primus ducentem tempora lanum.
Dum tamen emeriti remanet pars ultima iuris.
Consul uterque vagos belli per munia patres
Elicit Epirum. Peregrina ac sordida sedes
Romanos cepit proceres, secretaque rerum
Hospes in externis audivit curia tectis.
Nam quis castra vocet tot strictas iure secures.
Tot fasces? docuit populos venerabilis ordo,
Non Magni partes sed Magnum in partibus esse.

Ut primum maestum tenuere silentia coetum^ 16

Lentulus e celsa sublimis sede profatur :
•' Indole si dignum Latia, si sanguine prisco
Robur inest animis, non qua tellure coacti
Quamquc procul tectis captae sedeamus ab urbis,
Cernite, sed vestrae faciem cognoscite turbae,

1 Pharsalia in Thessaly is meant by this plirase.

2 Tlie Pleiades were the daughters of Atlas.

* January 1st, 48 B.C.

* Maroellus and Lentulus.

238

BOOK V

Thus the leaders in turn suffered the wounds of
war, and Fortune, blending failure with success,
kept them for the land of the Macedonians ^ equal
in strength. Winter had already sprinkled Mount
Haemus with snow, and the daughter of Atlas ^ was
setting in a chilly sky. The day ^ was coming that
gives new names to the Calendar and begins the
worship of Janus, leader of the months. But, before
the last days of their expiring office ran out, the two
consuls * summoned to Epirus those senators who
were scattered here and there on military duties.
Mean and foreign was the chamber that held the
magnates of Rome ; and the Senate sat, as guests
beneath an alien roof, to hear the business of the
State. For who could apply the name of " camp "
to all those rods and all those axes bared by right
of law ? The worshipful body taught the world
that they were not the party of Magnus but that
Magnus was only one of their partisans.

As soon as silence prevailed in the sorrowing
assembly, Lentulus rose up from his high seat of
dignity and thus addressed them. " Senators, if
you have the stout hearts that befit your Latian
stock and ancient blood, consider not the land in
which we meet, or the distance which divides us
from the dwellings of captured Rome ; recognise
rather the aspect of this body, and, having power

239

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Cunctaque iussuri primum hoc decernite, patres,

Quod regnis populisque liquet, nos esse senatum.

Nam vel Hyperboreae plaustrum glaciale sub Ursae

Vel plaga qua torrens claususque vaporibus axis

Nee patitur noctes nee iniquos crescere soles, 25

Si fortuna ferat, rerum nos summa sequetur

Imperiumque comes. Tarpeia sede perusta

Gallorum facibus Veiosque habitante Camillo

lllic Roma fuit. Non umquam perdidit ordo

Mutato sua iura solo. Maerentia tecta 30

Caesar habet vacuasque domos legesque silentes

Clausaque iustitio tristi fora ; curia solos

Ilia videt patres, plena quos urbe fugavit :

Ordine de tanto quisquis non exulat hie est.

Ignaros scelerum longaque in pace quietos 36

Bellorum primus sparsit furor : omnia rursus

Membra loco redeunt. En, totis viribus orbis

Hesperiam pensant superi : iacet hostis in undis

Obrutus Illyricis, Libyae squalentibus arvis

Curio Caesarei cecidit pars magna senatus. 40

ToUite signa, duces, fatorum inpellite cursum,

Spem vestram praestate deis, fortunaque tantos

Det vobis animos, quantos fugientibus hostem

Causa dabat. Nostrum exhausto ius clauditur anno ;

Vos, quorum finem non est sensura potestas, 45

Consulite in medium, patres, Magnumque iubete

Esse ducem." Laeto nomen clamore senatus

1 He implies that the senators who have submitted to Caesar
are the real exiles.

2 An allusion to the death of the Opitergians ; see iv. 404 f.
» The two consuls.

240

BOOK V

to pass any measure, decree this first of all — and
the fact is clear to all kings and nations — that we
are the Senate. For whether beneath the icy Wain
of the Northern Bear, or in the torrid zone and the
clime fenced in by heat, where neither night nor
day may grow beyond equality, wherever Fortune
carry us, the State will go with us and empire
attend us. When the Tarpeian sanctuary was con-
sumed by the firebrands of the Gauls, Camillus
dwelt at Veii, and Veii was Rome. Never has this
order forfeited its rights by changing its place.
Caesar has in his power the sorrowing buildings, the
empty houses, the silenced laws, and the law-courts
closed by a dismal holiday ; but that Senate House
sees no senators save those whom it expelled ere
Rome was deserted : every member of this great
body who is not an exile is present here.^ VVhen
we knew naught of civil war and had rested long
in peace, the first fury of warfare drove us apart ;
but now all the scattered limbs return to the body.
See how the gods make good the loss of Italy by
the armed strength of the whole world I Our
enemies lie deep in Illyrian waters ; ^ and Curio, a
mighty man in Caesar's Senate, has fallen on the
barren fields of Libya. Lift up your standards, ye
leaders of armies ; hasten the course of destiny ;
convince the gods that you have hope ; and draw
from success the confidence which your good cause
gave you when you fled before Caesar. For us ^ the
time of office expires when the year closes ; but
your authority, senators, can never be subject to
any limits ; and therefore take counsel for the
common good, and vote for Magnus as your leader."
That name was hailed with applause by the senators;

241

VOL. I. I

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Excipit et Magno fatum patriaeque suumque
Inposuit. Tunc in reges populosque merentes
Sparsus honor, pelagique potens Phoebeia donis 60

Exornata Rhodos geiidique inculta inventus
Taygeti ; fama veteres laudantur Athenae,
Massiliaeque suae donatur libera Phoeis.
Turn Sadalam fortemque Cotyn fidumque per arma
Deiotarum et gelidae dominum Rhascypolin orae 66
Conlaudant, Libyamque iubent auctore senatu
Sceptrifero parere lubae. Pro tristia fata !
Et tibi, non fidae gentis dignissime regno,
Fortunae, Ptolomaee, pudor crimenque deorum,
Cingere Pellaeo pressos diademate crines 60

Permissum. Saevum in populos puer accipit ensem,
Atque utinam in populos ! donata est regia Lagi,
Accessit Magni iugulus, regnumque sorori
Ereptum est soceroque nefas. lam turba solute
Anna petit coetu ; quae cum populique ducesque 66
Casibus incertis et caeca sorte pararent,
Solus in ancipites metuit descendere Martis
Appius eventus, finemque expromere rerum
Sollicitat superos multosque obducta per annos
Delphica fatidici reserat penetralia Phoebi. 70

Hesperio tantum quantum summotus Eoo
Cardine Parnasos gemino petit aethera colle,
Mons Phoebo Bromioque sacer, cui numine mixto

* See note to iii. 340.

" Pella was the ancient capital of Macedonia. The first
Ptolemy, named Lagus, was a Macedonian ; and Lucan often
uses the epithet Pellaeus of the Egyptian king and court.

* Delphi, near Parnassus, claimed to be the centre of the
earth.

242

BOOK V

and they laid on the shoulders of Magnus the
burden of their country's fate and of their own.
Next, rewards for good service were freely bestowed
on kings and peoples : gifts of honour were con-
ferred on the rugged soldiery of cold Taygetus, and
on Rhodes, queen of the seas and island of Apollo ;
Athens of ancient fame was commended ; and
Phocis ^ was declared free, in compliment to
Massilia, her daughter city. Praise was given also
to Sadalas and brave Cotys, to the faithful ally,
Deiotarus, and to Rhascypolis, lord of a frozen land ;
and Libya was bidden to obey King Juba by the
authority of the Senate. And next — O cruelty of
Fate — to Ptolemy, right worthy to rule a treacherous
people, to Ptolemy, that disgrace of Fortune and
reproach of the gods, it was permitted to place on
his head the weight of the Macedonian 2 crown.
The boy received the sword to use it ruthlessly
against his people. Would that they alone had
suffered ! But, while the Senate gave the throne
of Lagus, the life of Magnus was thrown in as well ;
and so Cleopatra lost her kingdom, and Caesar the
power to murder his son-in-law. Then the meeting
dispersed, and all took up arms. But, while the
nations and their leaders prepared for war, uncertain
of the future and blind to their destiny, Appius
alone feared to commit himself to the lottery of
battle ; therefore he appealed to the gods to reveal
the issue of events ; and Delphi, the oracular
shrine of Apollo, closed for many years, was by him
unbarred.

At equal distance from the limits of East and
West,^ the twin peaks of Parnassus soar to heaven.
The mountain is sacred to Phoebus and to Bromios,

«43

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Delphica Thebanae referunt trieterica Bacchae.
Hoc solum fluctu terras mergente cacumen 75

Eminuit pontoque fuit discrimen et astris.
Tu quoque vix summam, seductus ab aequore, rupem
Extuleras, unoque iugo, Parnase^ latebas.
Ultor ibi expulsaCj premeret cum viscera partus,
Matris, adhuc rudibus Paean Pythona sagittis 80

Explicuit, cum regna Themis tripodasque teneret.
Ut vidit Paean vastos telluris hiatus
Divinam spirare fidem ventosque loquaces
Exhalare solum, sacris se condidit antris,
Incubuitque adyto vates ibi factus Apollo. 85

Quis latet hicsuperum? quod numenabaetherepressum
Dignatur caecas inclusum habitare cavernas?
Quis terram caeli patitur deus, omnia cursus
Aeterni secreta tenens mundoque futuri
Conscius, ac populis sese proferre paratus 90

Contactumque ferens hominis, magnusque potensque,
Sive canit fatum seu, quod iubet ille canendo,
Fit fatum ? Forsan t err is inserta regendis
Acre libratum vacuo quae sustinet orbem,
Totius pars magna lovis Cirrhaea per antra 95

Exit et aetherio trahitur conexa Tonanti.
Hoc ubi virgineo conceptum est pectore numen,
Humanam feriens animam sonat oraque vatis

* This is Stoic doctrine.

2 Cinha, the port of Delphi, is often used as a synonym for
the oracle itself.

244

r

BOOK V

in whose honour the Bacchants of Thebes, treating
the two gods as one, hold their triennial festival at
Delphi. When the Flood covered the earth, this
height alone rose above the level and was all that
separated sea from sky ; and even Parnassus, parted
in two by the flood, only just displayed a rocky
summit, and one of its peaks was submerged. There
Apollo, with yet unpractised shafts, laid low the
Python and so avenged his mother who had been
driven fortli when great with child. Themis was then
queen and mistress of the oracle ; but, when Apollo
saw that the huge chasm in the earth breathed
forth divine truth, and that the ground gave out a
wind that spoke, then he enshrined himself in the
sacred caves, brooded over the holy place, and there
became a prophet.

Which of the immortals is hidden here ? W^hat
deity, descending from heaven, deigns to dwell pent
up in these dark grottoes ? What god of heaven
endures the weight of earth, knowing every secret
of the eternal process of events, sharing with the
sky the knowledge of the future, ready to reveal
himself to the nations, and patient of contact with
mankind ? A great and mighty god is he, whether
he merely predicts the future or the future is itself
determined by the fiat of his utterance. It may be
that a large part of the whole divine element is
embedded in the world to rule it,^ and supports the
globe poised upon empty space ; and this part issues
forth through the caves of Cirrha,^ and is inhaled
there, though closely linked to the Thunderer in
heaven. When this inspiration has found a harbour
in a maiden's bosom, it strikes the human soul of
the priestess audibly, and unlocks her lips, even as

^45

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Solvit, ceu Siculus flammis urguentibus Aetnam
Undat apex, Campana fremens ceu saxa vaporat 100

Conditus Inarimes aeterna mole Typhoeus.

Hoc tamen expositum cunctis nuUique negatum
Numen ab human! solum se labe furoris
Vindicat. Haud illic tacito mala vota susurro
Concipiunt, nam fixa canens mutandaque nulli 105

Mortales optare vetat ; iustisque benignus
Saepe dedit sedem totas mutantibus urbes,
Ut Tyriis, dedit ille minas inpellere belli,
Ut Salaminiacum meminit mare ; sustulit iras
Telluris sterilis monstrato fine ; resolvit 110

Aera tabificum. Non uUo saecula dono
Nostra carent maiore deum, quam Delphica sedes
Quod siluit, postquam reges timuere futura
Et superos vetuere loqui. Nee voce negata
Cirrhaeae maerent vates, templique fruuntur 115

lustitio. Nam si qua deus sub pectora venit,
Numinis aut poena est mors inmatura recepti
Aut pretium ; quippe stimulo fluctuque furoris
Conpages Humana labat, pulsusque deorum
Concutiunt fragiles animas. Sic tempore longo 120

Inmotos tripodas vastaeque silentia rupis
Appius Hesperii scrutator ad ultima fati
Sollicitat. lussus sedes laxare verendas
Antistes pavidamque deis inmittere vatem
Castalios circum latices nemorumque recessus 125

1 The Athenians were encouraged to fight Xerxes by the
Delphian oracle.
* On which the priestesses sat.

246

I

BOOK V

the crown of Etna in Sicily boils over from the
pressure of the flames ; and as Typhoeus, where he
lies beneath the everlasting mass of Inarime, makes
hot the rocks of Campania by his unrest.

This sacred shrine, which welcomes all men and
is denied to none, nevertheless alone is free from
the taint of human wickedness. There no sinful
prayers are framed in stealthy whisper ; for the god
forbids mankind to pray for anything, and only pro-
claims the doom that none may change. To the
righteous he shows favour : when whole cities, as
in the case of Tyre, were abandoned by their inhabi-
tants, he has often given them a place to dwell in ;
he has enabled others to dispel the dangers of war,
as the sea of Salamis ^ has not forgotten ; he has
removed the anger of the barren earth by revealing
a remedy ; he has cleared the air from the taint of
plague. But the Del})hian oracle became dumb,
when kings feared the future and stopped the
mouth of the gods; and no divine gift is more
sorely missed by our age. Yet the priestesses of
Delphi feel no grief that utterance is denied them :
nay, they rejoice in the cessation of the oracle.
For, if the god enters the bosom of any, untimely
death is her penalty, or her reward, for having
received him ; because the human frame is broken
up by the sting and surge of that frenzy, and the
stroke from heaven shatters the brittle life. — So
when Appius, probing the last secrets of Roman
destiny, urged his quest, the tripods ^ had long been
motionless and the mighty rock silent. When the
priest was bidden to unbar the awful shrine and
usher the terrified priestess into the divine presence,
Phemonoe was wandering free from care about the

^47

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Phemonoen errore vagam curisque vacantem

Corripuit cogitque fores inrumpere templi.

Limine terrifico metiiens consistere Phoebas

Absterrere ducem noscendi ardore futura

Cassa fraude parat. " Quid spes " ait " inproba veri 130

Te, RomanCj trahit ? muto Parnasos hiatu

Conticuit pressitque deum, seu spiritus istas

Destituit fauces mundique in devia versum

Duxit iter, seu, barbarica cum larapade Python

Arsit, in inmensas cineres abiere cavernas 135

Et Phoebi tenuere viam, seu sponte deorum

Cirrha silet farique sat est arcana futuri

Carmina longaevae vobis conmissa Sibyllae,

Seu Paean solitus templis arcere nocentes,

Ora quibus sol vat, nostro non invenit aevo," 140

Virginei patuere doli, fecitque negatis
Numinibus metus ipse fidem. Turn torta priores
Stringit vitta comas, crinesque in terga solutos
Candida Piiocaica conplectitur infula lauro. J

Haerentem dubiamque premens in templa sacerdos 145 ^
Inpulit. Ilia pavens adyti penetrale remoti
Fatidicum prima templorum in parte resistit
Atque deum simulans sub pectore ficta quieto
Verba refert, nullo confusae murmure vocis
Instinctam sacro mentem testata furore, 150

Haud aeque laesura ducem, cui falsa canebat,
Qiiam tripodas Phoebique fidem. Non rupta trementi

* Another name for Delphi ; the temple was burnt by Gauls i
in 279 B.C. '

2a8

BOOK V

spring of Castalia and the sequestered grove ; he
laid liands upon lier and compelled her to rush
within the temple doors. Fearing to take her stand
on that dread threshold, Apollo's priestess sought
by vain deceit to discourage Appius from his eager-
ness to learn the future. " Why," she asked, ^' does
presumptuous hope of learning the truth draw you
hither, O Roman .'' The chasm of Parnassus, fallen
dumb and silent, has buried its god. Either the
breath of inspiration has failed yonder outlet and
has shifted its path to a distant region of the world ;
or, when Pytho^ was burned by the brands of
barbarians, the ashes sank into the vast caverns and
blocked the passage of Phoebus ; or Delphi is dumb
by the will of Heaven, and it is thought enough that
the verses of the ancient Sibyl, entrusted to your
nation, should tell forth the hidden future ; or else
Apollo, accustomed to exclude the guilty from his
shrine, finds none in our age for whose sake to
unseal his lips."

The maiden's craft was plain, and even her fears
proved the reality of the deity she denied. Then
the circling band confined the tresses above her
brow ; and the hair that streamed down her back
was bound by the white fillet and the laurel of
Phocis. When still she paused and hesitated, the
priest thrust her by force into the temple. Dread-
ing the oracular recess of the inner shrine, she
halted by the entrance, counterfeiting inspiration
and uttering feigned words from a bosom unstirred ;
and no inarticulate cry of indistinct utterance proved
that her mind was inspired with the divine frenzy.
To Appius, who heard her false prophecy, she could
do less harm than to the oracle and Apollo's repute

«49

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Verba sono nee vox antri conplere capacis
Sufficiens spatium nulloque horrore comarum
Excussae laurus inmotaque limina templi
Securumque nemus veritam se credere Phoebo
Prodiderant. Sensit tripodas cessare furensque
Appius, " Et nobis meritas dabis, inpia^ poenas
Et superis, quos fingis," ait " nisi mergeris antris
Deque orbis trepidi tanto consulta tumultu
Desinis ipsa loqui." Tandem conterrita virgo
Confugit ad tripodas vastisque adducta cavernis
Haesit et insueto concepit pectore numen.
Quod non exhaustae per tot iam saecula rupis
Spiritus ingessit vati ; tandemque potitus
Pectore Cirrhaeo non umquam plenior artus
Phoebados inrupit Paean mentemque priorem
Expulit atque hominem toto sibi cedere iussit
Pectore. Bacchatur demens aliena per antrum
Colla ferens, vittasque del Phoebeaque serta
Erectis discussa comis per inania templi
Ancipiti cervice rotat spargitque vaganti
Obstantes tripodas magnoque exaestuat igne
Iratum te, Piioebe, ferens. Nee verbere solo
Uteris et stimulos flammasque in viscera mergis :
Accipit et frenos, nee tantum prodere vati
Quantum scire licet. Venit aetas omnis in unam
Congeriem, miserumque premunt tot saecula pectus,
250

BOOK V

for truth. Her words, that rushed not forth with
tremulous cry ; her voice, which had not power to
fill the space of the vast cavern ; her laurel wreath,
which was not raised off her head by the bristling
hair; the unmoved floor of the temple and the
motionless trees — all these betrayed her dread of
trusting herself to Apollo. Appius perceived that
the oracle was dumb, and cried out in fury : " Pro-
fane wretch, I myself and the gods whom you
counterfeit will punish you even as you deserve,
unless you go down into the cave and cease, when
consulted concerning the mighty turmoil of a terrified
world, to speak your own words." Scared at last
the maiden took refuge by the tripods ; she drew
near to the vast chasm and there stayed ; and her
bosom for the first time drew in the divine power,
which the inspiration of the rock, still active after so
many centuries, forced upon her. At last Apollo
mastered the breast of the Del[)hian priestess ; as
fully as ever in the past, he forced his way into her
body, driving out her former thoughts, and bidding
her human nature to come forth and leave her heart
at his disposal. Frantic she careers about the cave,
with her neck under possession ; the fillets and gar-
lands of Apollo, dislodged by her bristling hair, she
whirls with tossing head through the void spaces
of the temple ; she scatters the tripods that impede
her random course ; she boils over with fierce fire,
while enduring the wrath of Phoebus. Nor does he
ply the whip and goad alone, and dart flame into
her vitals : she has to bear the curb as well, and is
not permitted to reveal as much as she is suffered to
know. All time is gathered up together : all the
centuries crowd her breast and torture it ; the end-

251

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Tanta patet rerum series, atque omne futurum

Nititur in lucem, vocemque petentia fata 180

Luctantur ; non prima dies, non ultima mundi,

Non modus Oceani, numerus non derat harenae.

Qualis in Euboico vates Cumana recessu,

Indignata suum multis servire furorem

Gentibus, ex tanta fatorum strage superba 185

Excerpsit Romana manu, sic plena laborat

Phemonoe Phoebo, dum te, consultor operti

Castalia tellure dei, vix invenit, Appi,

Inter fata diu quaerens tarn magna latenteni.

Spumea tunc primum rabies vaesana per ora 190

Etfluit et gemitus et anhelo clara meatu

Murmura, tum maestus vastis ululatus in antris

Extremaeque sonant domita iam virgine voces :

'* EfFugis ingentes, tanti discriminis expers,

Bellorum, Romane, minas, sol usque quietem 195

Euboici vasta lateris convalle tenebis."

Cetera suppressit faucesque obstruxit Apollo.

Custodes tripodes fatorum arcanaque mundi
Tuque potens veri Paean nullumque futuri
A superis celate diem, suprema ruentis 200

Imperii caesosque duces et funera regum
Et tot in Hesperio conlapsas sanguine gentes
Cur aperire times ? an nondum numina tantum
Decrevere nefas et adhuc dubitantibus astris
Pompei damnare caput tot fata tenentur ? 205

^ Cumae in Campania was founded by Chalcidians from
Euboea.

2 Appius died in Euboea and was buried there.

252

BOOK V

less cliain of events is revealed ; all the future
struggles to the light ; destiny contends with
destiny, seeking to be uttered. The creation of the
world and its destruction, the compass of the Ocean
and the sum of the sands — all these are before her.
Even as the Sibyl of Cumae ^ in her Euboean cave,
resenting that her inspiration should be at the
service of many nations, chose among them with
haughty hand and picked out from the great heap
of destiny the fate of Rome, so Phemonoe, possessed
by Phoebus, was troubled and sought long ere she
found the name of Appius concealed among the
names of mightier men — Appius, who came to ques-
tion the god hidden in the land of Castalia. When
she found it, first the wild frenzy overflowed through
her foaming lips ; she groaned and uttered loud
inarticulate cries with panting breath ; next, a
dismal wailing filled the vast cave ; and at last,
when she was mastered, came the sound of articulate
speech : " Roman, thou shalt have no part in the
mighty ordeal and shalt escape the awful threats
of war ; and thou alone shalt stay at peace ^ in a
broad hollow of the Euboean coast." Then Apollo
closed up her throat and cut short her tale.

Ye oracles that watch over destiny, ye mysteries
of the universe, and thou, O Paean, master of truth
from whom no day of future time is hidden by the
gods, why is it that thou dreadest to reveal the last
phase in the collapse of empire, the fall of captains
and deaths of kings, and the destruction of so many
nations in the carnage of Italy ? Have the gods not
yet resolved on so great a crime, and, because the
stars still hesitate to doom Pompey to death, is the
fate of many held in suspense ? Or is this the object

*53^

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Vindicis an gladii facinus poenasque furorum

Regnaque ad ultores iterum redeuntia Brutos

Ut peragat fortuna, taces ? Turn pectore vatis

Inpactae cessere fores, expulsaque templis

Prosiluit ; perstat rabies, nee cuncta locutae 210

Quem non emisit superest deus. Ilia feroces

Torquet adhue oculos totoque vagantia caelo

Lumina, nunc voltu pavido, nunc torva minaci ;

Stat numquam facies ; rubor igneus inficit ora

Liventesque genas ; nee, qui solet esse timenti, 216

Terribilis sed pallor incst nee fessa quiescunt

Corda, sed, ut tumidus Boreae post flamina pontus

Rauca gemit, sic muta levant suspiria vatem.

Dumque a luce sacra, qua vidit fata, refertur

Ad volgare iubar, mediae venere tenebrae. 220

Inmisit Stygiam Paean in viscera Lethen,

Quae raperet secreta deum. Turn pectore verum

Fugit, et ad Phoebi tripodas rediere futura,

Vixque refecta cadit. Nee te vicinia leti

Territat ambiguis frustratum sortibus, Appi ; 226

lure sed incerto mundi subsidere regnum

Chalcidos Euboicae vana spe rapte parabas.

Heu demens ! nullum belli sentire fragorem,

Tot mundi caruisse malis, praestare deorum

Excepta quis Morte potest ? Secreta tenebis 230

Litoris Euboici memorando condite busto.

Qua maris angustat fauces saxosa Carystos

* The reference is to Caesar's murder, which might, if
foretold, be frustrated.

2 Here and often "darkness" has the sense of "uncon-
sciousness " : comp. iii. 735.

254

I

BOOK V

of thy silence — that Fortune may carry through the
heroic deed of the avenging sword, that mad ambition
may be punished, and that tyranny may meet once
more the vengeance of a Brutus ? ^ — Now the doors
gave way when the priestess dashed her breast
against them, and forth she rushed, driven from the
temple. The frenzy abides ; and the god, whom she
has not shaken off, still controls her, since she has
not told all her tale. She still rolls wild eyes, and eye-
balls that roam over all the sky ; her features are never
quiet, now showing fear, and now grim with menacing
aspect ; a fiery flush dyes her face and the leaden hue
of her cheeks ; her paleness is unlike that of fear but
inspires fear ; her heart finds no rest after its labour ;
and, as the swollen sea moans hoarsely when the
North wind has ceased to blow, so voiceless sighs
still heave her breast. While she was returning
to the common light of day from the divine radiance
in which she had seen the future, a darkness ^
intervened. For Apollo poured Stygian Lethe into
her inward parts, to snatch the secrets of heaven
from her. Then the truth vanished from her bosom,
and knowledge of the future went back to the
tripods of the god ; and down she fell, recovering
with difficulty. But Appius, deceived by a riddling
oracle, was not alarmed by the nearness of death :
urged by vain hope, he was eager to take possession
of a domain at Chalcis in Euboea, while the lordship
over the world was still unsettled. Madman ! what
deity save Death alone can assure to a man that he
will feel no crash of warfare and escape such world-
wide suffering } Laid in a memorable tomb, you shall
occupy a sequestered spot on the shore of Euboea,
where a gorge of the sea is narrowed by the quarries

255

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Et, tumidis infesta colit quae numina^ Rhamnus,
Artatus rapido fervet qua gurgite pontus,
Euripusque trahit, cursum mutantibus undis, 23f

Chalcidicas puppes ad iniquam classibus Aulin.

Interea domitis Caesar remeabat Hiberis
Victrices aquilas alium laturus in orbem,
Cum prope fatorum tantos per prospera cursus
Avertere dei. Nullo nam Marte subactus 240

Intra castrorum timuit tentoria ductor
Perdere successus scelerum, cum paene fideles
Per tot bella manus satiatae sanguine tandem
Destituere ducem, seu maesto classica paulura
Intermissa sono claususque et frigidus ensis 246

Expulerat belli furias, seu, praemia miles
Dum maiora petit, damnat eausamque ducemque
Et seel ere inbutos etiamnunc venditat enses.
Haud magis expertus discrimine Caesar in ullo est,
Quam non e stabili tremulo sed culmine cuncta 250

Despiceret staretque super titubantia fultus.
Tot raptis truncus manibus gladioque relictus
Paene suo, qui tot gentes in bella trahebat,
Scit non esse duels strictos sed militis enses.
Non pavidum iam murmur erat, nee pectore tecto 266
Ira latens ; nam quae dubias constringere mentes
Causa solet, dum quisque pavet, quibus ipse timori est,
Seque putat solum regnorum iniusta gravari,
Haud retinet. Quippe ipsa metus exsolverat audax

^ Nemesis.

' His fellow-soldiers.

256

BOOK V

of Carystos and by Rhamnus that worships a goddess*
wlio hates the proud ; there the sea boils in the
narrows with rushing waters, and there the Euripus
with irregular current carries the ships of Chalcis to
Aulis unkind to fleets.

Meanwhile Caesar was returning triumphant over
conquered Spain to carry into a new world his
victorious eagles, when the flowing tide of his
successes was almost turned aside by Heaven. For,
unsubdued in the field, the general feared, within
the tents of his camp, to lose the fruits of crime,
when those troops that had been faithful through so
many wars, sated at last with blood, came near to
forsaking him. Was it perhaps the brief lull in the
trumpet's dismal note, and the cooling of the sword
in its sheath, that had cast out the evil spirit of
war? Or was it greed for greater rewards that
made the soldiers repudiate their cause and their
leader, and again put up for sale the swords already
stained with guilt.'' In no peril was Caesar more
clearly taught how insecure and even tottering was
the eminence from which he looked down on the
world, and how the ground he stood on quaked
beneath him. Maimed by the loss of so many hands,
and almost left to the protection of his own weapon,
he, who was dragging to war so many nations,
learned that the sword, once drawn, belongs to
the soldier and not to the general. There was an
end of timid muttering, an end of anger hidden in
the secret heart ; for what often binds a wavering
allegiance — that each fears those ^ to whom he him-
self is a terror, and each thinks that he alone resents
the injustice of oppression — that motive had lost its
hold. For their mere numbers had dispelled their

^57

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Turba suos : quidquid multis peccatur inultum est. 260

Effudere minas : " Liceat discedere, Caesar,

A rabie scelenam. Quaeris terraque marique

His ferrum iugulis, animasque effundere viles

Quolibet hoste paras : partem tibi Gallia nostri

Eripuit, partem duris Hispania bellis, 265

Pars iacet Hesperia, to toque exercitus orbe

Te vincente perit. Terris fudisse cruorem

Quid iuvat Arctois Rhodano Rhenoque subactis?

Tot mihi pro bellis bellum civile dedisti.

Cepimus expulso patriae cum tecta senatu, 270

Quos hominum vel quos licuit spoliare deorum ? •

Imus in omne nefas manibus ferroque nocentes,

Paupertate pii. Finis quis quaeritur armis?

Quid satis est, si Roma parum est ? iam respice canos,

Invalidasque manus et inanes cerne lacertos. 275

Usus abit vitae, bellis consumpsimus aevum :

Ad mortem dimitte senes. En inproba vota:

Non duro liceat morientia caespite membra

Ponere, non anima galeam fugiente ferire

Atque oculos morti clausuram quaerere dextram, 280

Coniugis inlabi lacrimis, unique paratum

Scire rogum ; liceat morbis finire senectam ;

Sit praeter gladios aliquod sub Caesare fatum.

Quid velut ignaros ad quae portenta paremur

Spe trahis ; usque adeo soli civilibus armis 285

1 It is surprising that Lucan allowed this tribute to Caesar
to remain in his poem.

BOOK V

fears and made them bold : the sin of thousands
always goes unpunished. Thus they poured forth
their threats : " Give us leave, Caesar, to depart
from the madness of civil war. You search over
land and sea for swords to pierce our hearts, and you
are ready to spill our worthless lives by the hand of
any foe. Some of us were snatched from you by Gaul,
others by the hard campaigns in Spain ; others lie in
Italy ; over all the world you are victorious and your
soldiers die. What boots it to have shed our blood
in Northern lands, where we conquered the Rhone
and the Rhine ? As a reward for so many campaigns
you have given me civil war. When we drove forth
the Senate and captured our native city, what men
or what gods did you suffer us to rob .'' ^ As we go
on to every crime, though our hands and swords are
guilty, our poverty absolves us. What limit of war-
fare do you seek ? What will satisfy you if Rome is
not enough ? Consider at last our grey hairs ; be-
hold our enfeebled hands and wasted arms. We
have lost the enjoyment of life, we have spent all
our days in fighting. Now that we are old, disband
us to die. See how extravagant are our demands !
Save us from laying our dying limbs on the hard
rampart of the camp, from breathing out our
last breath against the bars of the helmet, and
from looking in vain for a hand to close our dying
eyes ; and suffer us to sink into the arms of a weep-
ing wife, and to know that the pyre stands ready for
one corpse alone. Suffer us to end our old age by
sickness ; let not death by the sword be the only
end for Caesar's soldiers. Why do you lure us on
with promises, as if we did not know the horrors of
which we are to be the instruments ? Are we the

259

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Nescimus, cuius sceleris sit maxima merces?

Nil actum est bellis, si nondum conperit istas

Omnia posse raanus. Nee fas nee vincula iuris

Hoc audere vetant : Rheni mihi Caesar in undis

Dux erat, hie socius ; facinus, quos inquinat, aequat. 290

Adde quod ingrato meritorum iudice virtus

Nostra perit : quidquid gerimus, fortuna vocatur.

Nos fatum sciat esse suum. Licet omne deorum

Obsequium speres, irato milite, Caesar^

Pax erit." Haec fatus totis discurrere castris 295

Coeperat infestoque ducem deposcere voltu.

Sic eat, o superi : quando pietasque fidesque

Destituunt moresque malos sperare relictum est,

Finem civili faciat discordia bello.

Quem non ille ducem potuit terrere tumultus ? 300
Fata sed in praeceps solitus demittere Caesar
Fortunamque suam per summa pericula gaudens
Exercere venit ; nee dum desaeviat ira
Expectat ; medios properat temptare furores.
Non illis urbes spoliandaque templa negasset 305

Tarpeiamque lovis sedem matresque senatus
Passurasque infanda nurus. Vult omnia certe
A se saeva peti, vult praemia Martis amari ;
Militis indomiti tantum mens sana timetur.
Non pudet, heu ! Caesar, soli tibi bella placere 310

lanl manibus damnata tuis ? hos ante pigebit

^ The murder of Caesar himself is meant.
260

BOOK V

only combatants in civil war who are ignorant what
crime ^ earns the richest reward ? All our fighting
has been in vain if Caesar has yet to learn that our
hands stick at nothing. Neither our oath nor the
bonds of law forbid us to be thus bold. Though
Caesar was my general on the banks of the Rhine,
he is my comrade here ; crime levels those whom it
pollutes. Besides, our valour is wasted, since the
judge of merit is ungrateful ; all our achievements
are called good luck. Let Caesar learn that we are
his destiny ; though he hope for entire compliance
from the gods, yet the anger of his soldiers will bring
peace." Thus they spoke and began to run to and
fro about the camp, and to demand their general with
fury in their faces. So be it, ye gods ! Since duty
and loyalty are no more and our only remaining
hope is in wickedness, let mutiny make an end of
civil war.

Such an uproar might have terrified any general ;
but Caesar was accustomed to stake his fortune upon
desperate measures, and glad to put it to the proof
in utmost risks ; he came, without waiting till their
rage should die down, and hastened to defy their
fury at its height. Unforbidden by him, they might
have sacked cities and temples, even the Tarpeian
sanctuary of Jupiter ; they might have inflicted
unspeakable outrage on the mothers and daughters
of senators ; he wished undoubtedly that they should
demand of him leave for all atrocities, he wished
that the rewards of war should be coveted ; he
dreaded one prospect only — that his fierce soldiers
might return to their senses. Do you not blush,
Caesar, that you alone find pleasure in war which
your instruments have already condemned? Shall

i6i

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Sanguinis ? his ferri grave ius erit, ipse per omne

Fasque nefasque rues ? lassare et disce sine armis

Posse pati ; liceat scelerum tibi ponere finem.

Saeve, quid insequeris ? quid iam nolentibus instas ? 316

Bellum te civile fugit. Stetit aggere fulti

Caespitis intrepidus voltu meruitque timeri

Non metuens, atque haec ira dictnnte profatur :

"Qui modo in absentem voltu dextraque furebas,

Miles, habes nudum promptumque ad volnera pectus.

Hie fuge, si belli finis placet, ense relicto. 321

Detegit inbelles animas nil fortiter ausa

Seditio tantumque fugam meditata iuventus

Ac ducis invicti rebus lassata secundis.

Vadite meque meis ad bella relinquite fatis. 325

Invenient haec arma manus, vobisque repulsis

Tot reddet Fortuna viros, quot tela vacabunt.

Anne fugam Magni tanta cum classe secuntur

Hesperiae gentes, nobis victoria turbam

Non dabit, inpulsi tantum quae praemia belli 330

Auferat et vestri rapta mercede laboris 1

Lauriferos nullo comitetur volnere currus ?

Vos despecta, senes, exhaustaque sanguine turba

Cernetis nostros iam plebs Romana triumphos.

Caesaris an cursus vestrae sentire putatis 335

Damnum posse fugae ? veluti, si cuncta minentur

Flumina quos miscent pelago subducere fontes,

Non magis ablatis umquam descenderit aequor.

:t62

i

BOOK V

tliey, sooner than you, sicken of bloodshed and resent
the tyranny of the sword, while you rush on through
right and wrong withoirt limit ? Grow weary ; learn
to find life endurable without fighting ; suffer your-
self to set a limit to wickedness. Why this ruthless
pressure, this compulsion of men who have lost the
will to fight? Civil war is slipping out of your
grasp. — He took his stand on a mound of turf piled
high ; his countenance was undismayed, and his own
fearlessness justly inspired fear in others. Anger
prompted the words he spoke : " Soldiers, who lately
raged against an absent man, with fury in your faces
and gestures, here is my breast bare and ready for
your stabs. Plant here your swords and fly, if you
wish to end the war. That you have no stomach
for fighting is revealed ; for your mutiny ends in
words ; you are warriors whose only purpose is
flight ; your leader's victories have known no check,
and yet you have had enough. Begone ! leave me
to my own fortune to carry on war. These swords
will find hands to hold them ; and when I have dis-
carded you. Fortune will give me in exchange a
brave man for every unused weapon. If Pompey, in
flight, is followed by a mighty fleet and the peoples
of Italy, shall not victory give me a host, merely to
carry off the prizes of a war already decided, to
snatch the reward of your hardships, and to walk
unwounded by my laurelled car, while you, a despised
mob, old men drained of blood, sunk to be the rabble
of Rome, will watch us triumph ? Think you that
Caesar's career can feel the loss of your desertion ?
*Tis as if all the rivers threatened to withdraw the
waters they mingle with the sea : if those waters
were removed, the sea-level would not fall any more

263

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Quam nunc crescit, aquis. An vos momenta putatis

Ulla dedisse mihi ? nximquam sic cura deorum 340

Se premet, ut vestrae morti vestraeque saluti

Fata vacent ; procerum motus haec cuncta seciintur :

Humanum paucis vivit genus. Orbis Hiberi

Horror et arctoi nostro sub nomine miles,

Pompeio certe fugeres duce. Fortis in armis 315

Caesareis Labienus erat; nunc transfuga vilis

Cum duce praelato terras atque aequora lustrat.

Nee melior mihi vestra fides, si bella nee hoste

Nee duce me geritis. Quisquis mea signa relinquens

Non Pompeianis tradit sua partibus arma, 350

Hie numquam vult esse meus. Sunt ista profecto

Curae castra deis, qui me conimittere tantis

Non nisi mutato voluerunt milite bellis.

Heu, quantum Fortuna umeris iam pondere fessis

Amolitur onus ! sperantes omnia dextras 355

Exarmare datur, quibus hie non sufficit orbis :

lam certe mihi bella geram. Discedite castris,

Tradite nostra viris ignavi signa Quirites.

At paucos, quibus haec rabies auctoribus arsit,

Non Caesar sed poena tenet. Procumbite terra 360

Infidumque caput feriendaque tendite coUa.

Et tu, quo solo stabunt iam robore castra.

Tiro rudis, specta poenas et disce ferire,

Disce mori." Tremuit saeva sub voce minantis

* To address soldiers as Quirites ia equivalent to disbanding
^henu

?64

BOOK V

than now their presence raises it. Think you that
you have ever turned the scale in my favour ? Provi-
dence will never stoop so low that fate can attend
to the life and death of such as you. All these
events depend upon the actions of the leaders ; it is
for the sake of a few that mankind in general lives.
While you bore the name of Caesar, you were the
terror of the Spanish world, and of the North ; but,
had Pompey led you, you would certainly have fled.
Labienus was eminent in war while he bore my
arms ; now, a despised deserter, he hurries over land
and sea with the leader whom he preferred to me.
I shall think no better of your loyalty if you fight
neither for me nor against me. If any man leaves
my standards without offering his sword to Pompey's
faction, he desires never to be mine. This camp is
beyond doubt favoured by heaven ; for the gods
designed that I should change my soldiers before
embarking on such great wars. Ah ! how great a
burden Fortune is lifting now from shoulders that
are already overweighted! I have the chance to
disband men whose greed is unbounded, and for
whom the world is not enough. Henceforward at
least I shall fight battles to please myself. Begone
from the camp and surrender my standards to men,
ye cowards and civilians ! ^ Those few, at whose
instigation this madness broke out, are detained here
not by their general but by their punishment.
Down with you upon the ground, and stretch out for
the axe your traitorous heads and necks I And you
raw recruits, who alone will form the backbone of the
army in future, watch their execution, and learn
how to slay and to be slain." — The spiritless mob
cowered before his fierce and menacing words ; and

«65

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Volgus iners, unumque caput tarn magna iuventus 365

Privatum factura timet, velut ensibus ipsis

Imperet invito moturus milite ferrum.

Ipse pavet, ne tela sibi dextraeque negentur

Ad scelus hoc, Caesar : vicit patientia saevi

Spem ducis, et iugulos non tantum praestitit enses. 370

Nil magis adsuetas sceleri quam perdere mentes

Atque perire tenet. Tam diri foederis ictu

Parta quies, poenaque redit placata iuventus.

Brundisium decimis iubet banc attingere castris
Et cunctas revocare rates, quas avius Hydrus 376

Antiquusque Taras secretaque litora Leucae,
Quas recipit Salapina palus et subdita Sipus
Montibus, Ausoniam qua torquens frugifer oram
Delmatico Boreae Calabroque obnoxius Austro
Apulus Hadriacas exit Garganus in undas. 380

Ipse petit trepidam tutus sine milite Romam
lam doctam servire togae, populoque precanti
Scilicet indulgens summo dictator honori
Contigit et laetos fecit se consule fastos.
Namque omnes voces, per quas iam tempore tanto 385
Mentimur dominis, haec priraum repperit aetas.
Qua, sibi ne ferri ius ullum, Caesar, abesset,
Ausonias voluit gladiis miscere secures,
Addidit et fasces aquilis et nomen inane
Imperii rapiens signavit tempora digna 390

* Now Otranto.

2 Lit. '*a dictator was vouchsafed to the highest office," i.e.
Caesar, being dictator, conferred honour on the consulship by
accepting it,

266

BOOK V

the great army feared a single man whom they
could have stripped of his command, as if he could
control their very swords and make the steel obey
him when the men refused obedience. Caesar him-
self dreaded that weapons and hands would be
refused him for the performance of this crime ; but
they put up with more than their cruel commander
thought possible, and })rovided not only executioners
but the victims also. Between hearts inured to crime
there is no stronger bond than inflicting and enduring
death. Order was restored by the conclusion of this
dreadful pact, and the men returned to their duty :
the execution had settled their grievances.

They receive orders to reach Brundisium in nine
days' march, and to summon thither all vessels that
find harbour in remote Hydrus ^ or ancient Tarentum
or the sequestered shore of Leuca or in the Sala-
pinian pool and Sipus beneath the hills, where
Garganus curves the Italian coast with its oak-woods,
and meets the North wind from Dalmatia and the
South wind from Calabria, as it juts out from Apulia
into the waters of the Adriatic. Caesar himself, safe
without his army, hastened to terrified Rome ; she
had learned by now to obey him even when he wore
the garb of peace. Yielding forsooth to the people's
prayer, a dictator was added to the list of consuls,^
and Caesar, by his consulship, made glad the
Calendar. For that age invented all the lying titles
that we have used so long to our masters — that age
in which Caesar, that he might grasp every right to
use the sword, desired to combine the Roman axes
with his blades and add the fasces to his eagles.
Snatching at the empty name of legal office, he set
a fitting mark upon that time of sorrow ; for what

267

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Maesta nota ; nam quo melius Pharsalicus annus

Consule notus erit ? Fingit soUemnia Campus

Et non admissae dirimit suffragia plebis

Decantatque tribus et vana versat in urna.

Nee caelum servare licet : tonat augure surdo, 395

Et laetae iurantur aves bubone sinistro.

Inde perit primum quondam veneranda potestas

luris inops ; tantum careat ne nomine tenipus,

Menstruus in fastos distinguit saecula consul.

Nee non Iliacae numen quod praesidet Albae, 400

Haud meritum Latio soUemnia sacra subacto,

Vidit flammifera confectas nocte Latinas.

Inde rapit cursus et, quae piger Apulus arva
Deseruit rastris et inerti tradidit herbae,
Ocior et caeli flammis et tigride feta 405

Transcurrit, curvique tenens Minoia tecta
Brundisii clausas ventis brumalibus undas
Invenit et pavidas hiberno sidere classes.
Turpe duci visum, rapiendi tempora belli
In segnes exisse moras, portuque teneri 410

Dum pateat tutum vel non felicibus aequor.
Expertes animos pelagi sic robore couplet :
" Fortius hiberni flatus caelumque fretumque.
Cum cepere, tenent, quam quos incumbere certos
Perfida nubiferi vetat inconstantia veris. 415

Nee maris anfractus lustrandaque litora nobis,

* Under the Republic, an augur might watch the sky for
unfavourable omens, such as might hinder an election being
held.

* Lucan exaggerates here. Under the Empire it became
common for consuls to hold office for less than a year ; but
during 48 B.C. there were only two consuls — Caesar and
P. Servilius Vatia.

' Jupiter Latiaria. * Owing to the war.

268

BOOK V

consul has more right to give Ills name to the year of
Pharsalia? The Campus sees a travesty of the
annual ceremonies : the people are exchided, but
their votes are sorted, the names of the tribes
are rehearsed, and a pretence is made of shaking
them in the urn. It is not permitted to watch the
sky:^ it thunders, but the augur is deaf; and they
swear that the omens are favourable, though an owl
flies on the left hand. Then first the office once so
venerable lost its power and began to decay : only,
that the period might not lack a name, consuls
appointed from month to month ^ mark off the years
upon the record-roll. Further, the god^ who
presides over Trojan Alba, though, when Latium
was conquered, he had ceased to deserve his
customary rites, witnessed the bonfire at night that
ends the Latin festival.

Hurrying away from Rome, Caesar, swifter than
the lightning or the mother tigress, sped over the
land which the Apulians, reduced to idleness,* had
ceased to till with rakes and surrendered to the
weeds. When he reached the Cretan city of Brun-
disium on its bay, he found the sea closed by winter
storms and tiie fleets scared by the weather of that
season. He thought it shame that the time for
hastening the war to a close had ended in sloth and
idleness, and that he should be detained in harbour,
till others, who were no favourites of Fortune, found
the sea safe and open. Thus he filled with confidence
men who knew naught of the sea : " When the gales
of winter have mastered sky and sea, they keep their
hold more strongly than those which the treacherous
fickleness of rainy spring prevents from blowing
steadily. We have no need to track the curves of

269

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Sed recti fluctus soloque Aquilone secandi.

Hie utinam summi curvet carchesia mali

Incumbatque furens et Graia ad moenia perflet,

Ne Pompeiani Phaeacum e litore toto 420

Languida iactatis conprendant carbasa remis.

Rumpite, quae retinent felices vincula proras ;

lamdudum nubes et saevas perdimus undas."

Sidera prima poli Phoebo laber.te sub undas
Exierant, et luna suas iam fecerat umbras, 425

Cum pariter solvere rates ; totosque rudentes
Laxavere sinus, et flexo navita cornu
Obliquat laevo pede carbasa summaque pandens
Sipara velorum perituras colligit auras.
Vix ^ primum levior propellere lintea ventns 430

Incipit exiguumque tument, et reddita malo
In mediam cecidere ratem, terraque relicta
Non valet ipsa sequi puppes quae vexerat aura.
Aequora lenta iacent, alto torpore liga^ae
Pigrius inmotis haesere paludibus undae. 435

Sic stat iners Scythicas astringens Bosporos undas.
Cum glacie retinente fretum non inpulit Hister^
Inmensumque gelu tegitur mare ; conprimit unda,
Deprendit quascumque rates, nee pervia velis
Aequora frangit eques, fluctuque latente sonantem 440
Orbita migrantis scindit Maeotida Bessi.
Saeva quies pelagi, maestoque ignava profundo
Stagna iacentis aquae; veluti deserta regente

1- Vix Housman : Ut MSS.

^ Corcyra.

' Caesar's ships were merchant ships, which depended upon
sails, whereas Ponipey's warships were rowed.
3 The Sea of Azov.

270

BOOK V

sea and shore ; we have merely to cut the waves in
a straight line, with the help of the North wind
only. May it blow in all its fury, till it bends the
tops of our masts, and drive us all the way to the
cities of Greece ; else Pompey's sailors, issuing from
all the coast of Phaeacia,^ may overtake our flagging
sails by the stroke of their oars.^ Cut the cables
which detain our victorious prows ; we have long
been wasting the chance given us by cloudy skies
and angry waves."

The sun sank beneath the sea, the first stars had
come out in the sky, and the moon had begun to
throw shadows of her own, when they cast loose
their ships all together. The ropes shook out the
sails at full stretch ; the sailors bent the yards and
slanted the canvas, keeping the sheet to the left,
and spread the high topsails to catch the breeze
that would otherwise be lost. Hardly had the light
air begun to drive the sails till they puffed out a
little, when they fell back on the mast and drooped
towards the centre of the ship ; and, when land was
left behind, the very breeze that had carried them
could not keep pace with the vessels. The sea lay
motionless ; chained in dead calm, the waves had
less movement than a stagnant pool. — Thus the
Bosporus lies idle and binds the Northern Sea, when
the Danube, arrested by frost, no longer urges
on the deep, and the vast sea is covered with ice ;
the water holds in a vice every ship it has grasped ;
the rider strikes the solid floor that no sail may
traverse ; and the wheel-track of the Bessian nomad
furrows the Maeotian mere,^ while the surge groans
beneath. A grim stillness broods over the dismal
deep; and the sluggish pools of the flat expanse

271

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Aequora natura cessant, pontusque vetustas

Oblitus servare vices non commeat aestu, 445

Non horrore tremit, non solis imagine vibrat.

Casibus innumeris fixae patuere carinae.

Illinc infestae classes et inertia tonsis

Aequora moturae, gravis hinc languore profundi

Obsessis ventura fames. Nova vota timori 450

Sunt inventa novo, fluctus nimiasque precari

Ventorum vires, dum se torpentibus unda

Excutiat stagnis et sit mare. Nubila nusquam

Undarumque minae ; caelo languente fretoque

Naufragii spes omnis abit. Sed nocte fugata 455

Laesum nube dies iubar extulit imaque sensim

Coneussit pelagi movitque Ceraunia nautis.

[nde rapi coepere rates atque aequora classem

Curva sequi, quae iam vento fluctuque secundo

Lapsa Palaestinas uncis confixit harenas. 460

Prima duces vidit iunctis consistere castris
Tellus, quam volucer Genusus, quam mollior Hapsus
Circumeunt ripis. Hapso gesture carinas
Causa palus, lent quam fallens egerit unda;
At Genusum nunc sole nives, nunc imbre solutae 4C5
Praecipitant ; neuter longo se gurgite lassat,
Sed minimum terrae vicino litore novit.
Hoc fortuna loco tantae duo nomina famae
272

BOOK V

stand idle ; as though abandoned by the natural
force that governs it, the sea forgets to keep
its ancient alternations, and is not moved to and
fro by the tides ; no ripple ruffles it, nor does it
twinkle with any reflection of the sun. — Caesar's
becalmed ships were exposed to countless dangers.
On one side were the hostile vessels that might
stir the sluggish waters with their oars ; on the
other was the dread approach of famine, while they
were yet beleaguered by the calm. New prayers
were found to meet the new danger — prayers for

Or stormy seas and violent winds, if only the sea
would rouse from its dead stagnation and be sea
indeed. But no clouds nor angry waves were visible
anywhere : the stillness of sky and ocean robbed
them of all hope of shipwreck. When, however,

fei- darkness was dispelled, day lifted up the sunlight
obscured by cloud, and stirred the ocean depths by
degrees, and brought the Ceraunian mountains
nearer to the fleet. Soon the ships gathered speed,
and the breakers followed in their wake, till they
sped along with favouring wind and tide and
grappled with their anchor-flukes the sands of
Palaeste.

The first place that saw the rivals halt and pitch
their camps side by side was the land which the
swift Genusus and gentler Hapsus encompass with
their banks. The Hapsus is made navigable by a
lake, which it drains imperceptibly with quiet flow ;
but the Genusus is driven fast by the snows thawed
now by sun and now by rain ; neither river is
wearied by the length of its course : the sea is
close, and they know little of the land. This was
the place where Fortune matched two names of

VOL. I. K

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Conposuit, miserique fuit spes inrita mundi.

Posse duces parva campi statione diremptos 470

Adrnotum damnare nefas ; nam cernere voltus

Et voces audire datur, multosque per annos

Dilectus tibi, Magne, socer post pignora tanta.

Sanguinis infausti subolem mortemque nepotum,

Te nisi Niliaca propius non vidit harena. 475

Caesaris attonitam miscenda ad proelia mentem
Ferre moras scelerum partes iussere relictae.
Ductor erat cunctis audax Antonius armis
lam turn civili meditatus Leucada bello.
Ilium saepe minis Caesar precibusque morantem 480
Evocat : " O mundo tantorum causa laborum.
Quid superos et fata tenes ? sunt cetera cursu
Acta meoj summam rapti per prospera belli
Te poscit fortuna manum. Non rupta vadosis
Syrtibus incerto Libye nos dividit aestu. 486

Numquid inexperto tua credimus arma profundo,
Inque novos traheris casus ? ignave, venire
Te Caesar, non ire, iubet. Prior ipse per hostes
Percussi medios ^ alieni iuris harenas :
Tu mea castra times ? pereuntia tempora fati 490

Conqueror, in ventos inpendo vota fretumque.
Ne retine dubium cupientes ire per aequor ;

* medios Ovdendorf: raedias MSS,

* Two children were born to Pompey and Julia; both died
in earliest infancy.

. ' M. Antonius, a member of the Second Triumvirate, of
43 B.C.

* Where he and Cleopatra fought against Augustus and
Rome; and Lucan pretends to believe that Antony was now
disloyal to Caesar.

274

BOOK V

such high renown; but the sufTering world was
disappointed in the hope that the rivals, when
parted by but a little space of ground, might re-
pudiate wickedness thus forced upon their notice.
For each could see the other's face and hear his
voice ; and the father-in-law whom Magnus had
loved for many years never but once had a nearer
view of him after the close tie was broken and
when the grandchildren/ offspring of an ill-starred
union, were dead — and that once was on the sands
of the Nile.

Though Caesar was frantic to join battle, he was
forced to endure a postponement of wicked war by
the partisans he had left in Italy. Bold Antony,^
who commanded all those forces, thus early, during
the civil war, was plotting an Actium.^ Again and
again Caesar urged him to haste with threats and
entreaties: "On you lies the blame for the sore
troubles that afflict mankind ; why do you arrest
the course of destiny and the will of Heaven ? All
else has been done with my accustomed speed, and
Fortune now demands of you the finishing touch
for a war that has rushed on from victory to victory.
We are not parted by the shifting tides of Libya —
Libya whose coast is broken by the shoals of the
Syrtes. Am I risking your army on a sea I have
not tried, or drawing you into dangers unknown ?
Coward ! Caesar bids you come, not go. •! myself
went before through the midst of the enemy, and
my prow struck a shore that others controlled ; do
you fear my camp ? I complain that you waste the
hours granted by destiny ; 1 spend my prayers upon
the winds and waves. Check not the hearts that
are eager to cross the treacherous main ; the soldiers,

275

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Si bene nota mihi est, ad Caesaris arma iuventus

Naufragio venisse volet. lam voce doloris

Utendum est : non ex aequo divisimus orbem: 495

Epirum Caesarque tenet totusque senatus,

Ausoniam tu solus habes." His terque quaterque

Vocibus excitum postquam cessare videbat,

Dum se desse dels ac non sibi numina credit,

Sponte per incautas audet temptare tenebras 600

Quod iussi timuere fretum, temeraria prono

Expertus cessisse deo, fluctusque verendos

Classibus exigua sperat superare carinaj^^

Solverat armorum fessas nox languida curas,
Parva quies miseris, in quorum pectora somno 505

Dat vires fortuna minor ; iam castra silebant,
Tertia iam vigiles commoverat hora secundos ;
Caesar soUicito per vasta silentia gressu
Vix famulis audenda parat, cunctisque relictis
Sola placet Fortuna comes. Tentoria postquam 510
Egressus vigilum somno cedentia membra
Transsiluit questus tacite, quod fallere posset,
Litora curva legit primisque invenit in undis
Rupibus exesis haerentem fune carinam.
Rectorem dominumque ratis secura tenebat 515

Haud procul inde domus, non ullo robore fulta
Sed sterili iunco cannaque intexta palustri
Et latus inversa nudum munita phaselo.
Haec Caesar bis terque manu quassantia tectum

* Epirus stands for the East, Italy for the West.

* Whose lives were worthless.

276

BOOK V

if I know them, will be willing to join my forces at
the cost of shipwreck. I must even use the language
of resentment : the division of the world between
us is unfair : Caesar and all the Senate share Epirus ^
between them, while you keep Italy all to yourself.'*
Again and again he summoned Antony forth by
these appeals ; and, when he saw him still delay,
believing that Heaven was more true to him than
he to Heaven, he ventured in the dangerous dark-
ness to defy the sea, thus doing of his own accord
what others had feared to do when bidden. He
knew by experience that rashness succeeds when
Heaven favours, and hoped to surmount in a little
boat the waves that even fleets must fear.

Drowsy night had relaxed the weary toil of war
— night, a brief respite to the wretches over whose
breasts their humbler estate suffers sleep to prevail ;
there was silence in the camp, and the third hour
of night had roused the second watch. Stepping
anxiously through the desolate silence, Caesar pre-
pares to do what even slaves ^ hardly could dare : he
left all behind him and chose Fortune for his sole
companion. He passed outside the tents ; he
sprang over the bodies of the sleeping sentries,
vexed within himself that he was able to elude
them ; he traced the winding shore and found by
the edge of the sea a boat moored by a rope to
the hollowed rocks. The skipper and owner of the
boat had a dwelling not far away that gave him
shelter and safety ; no timber supported it, but
it was wattled with barren rush and reed from the
marshes, and tlie side exposed to the sea was
})rotected by a slviff turned upside down. Here
Caesar smote again and again upon the door till

277

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Limina commovit. MoUi consurgit Amyclas, 520

Quem dabat alga, toro. " Quisnam mea naufragus''

inquit
" Tecta petit ? aut quem nostrae fortuna coegit
Auxilium sperare casae ? " Sic fatus ab alto
Aggere iam tepidae sublato fune favillae
Scintillam tenuem commotos pavit in ignes, 526

Securus belli ; praedam civilibus arinis
Scit non esse casas. O vitae tuta facultas
Pauperis angustique lares ! o munera nondum
Intellecta deum ! Quibus hoc contingere teraplis
Aut potuit muris, nullo trepidare tumultu 630

Caesarea pulsante manu ? Turn poste recluso
Dux ait : " Expecta votis maiora modestis
Spesque tuas laxa, iuvenis : si iussa secutus
Me vehis Hesperiam, non ultra cuncta carinae
Debebis manibusque importunamve fereris
Pauperiem dejtens ^ inopem duxisse senectam. 636

Ne cessa praebere deo tua fata volenti
Angustos opibus subitis inplere penates."
Sic fatur, quamquam plebeio tectus amictu,
Indociiis privata loqui. Turn pauper Amyclas :
" Multa quidem prohibent nocturno credere ponto ; 540
Nam sol non rutilas deduxit in aequora nubes
Concordesque tulit radios : Noton altera Phoebi,
Altera pars Borean diducta luce vocabat.
Orbe quoque exhaustus medio languensque recessit
Spectantes oculos infirmo lumine passus. 546

Lunaque non gracili surrexit lucida cornu

* The line in italics was inserted by Housman,

* To use as a torch, apparently.
278

BOOK V

the roof shook. Amyclas rose up from the soft bed
that seaweed gave him. " What shipwrecked sailor
seeks my roof?" he asked, '^ or whom has chance
compelled to hope for aid from my cabin } " Thus
speaking, he withdrew a rope^ from a high pile of
ashes which time had cooled, and fanned the slender
spark till he fed it into flame. No thought of the
war had he : he knew that poor men's huts are
not plundered in time of civil war. How safe and
easy the poor man's life and his humble dwell-
ing ! How blind men still are to Heaven's gifts !
What temple, what fortified town, could say as
much — that it thrills with no alarm when Caesar
knocks ? Then, when the door was unfastened,
Caesar spoke : " Enlarge your hopes, young man,
and look forward to bounty beyond your humble
prayers. If you obey my orders and carry me to
Italy, you shall not henceforward owe all to your
boat and your own arms, nor shall you be said
to have spent a needy old age in lamenting cruel
poverty. Be swift to place your destiny in the
hands of Heaven, which wishes to fill your pinched
home with sudden wealth." Thus he spoke ; for
though the garb he wore was humble, he knew not
how to speak the language of a private man. Then
the poor man, Amyclas, answered : " Many signs,
indeed, prevent me from trusting the sea to-night.
Thus the sun carried down into the Ocean no ruddy
clouds, and showed no symmetrical ring of rays ; for
with divided beams one half of his disk summoned
the South wind, the other the North. Also, his
centre was hollowed and dim at sunset, and the
feeble light suffered the eye to gaze on it. The moon
too, when she appeared, did not shine with slender

279

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Aut orbis medii puros exesa recessus,

Nee duxit recto tenuata cacumina cornu,

Ventorumque notam rubuit ; turn lurida pallens

Ora tulit voltu sub nubem tristis ituro. 650

Sed mihi nee motus nemorum nee litoris ictus

Nee placet incertus qui provoeat aequora delphin,

Aut sieeum quod mergus amat, quodque ausa volare

Ardea sublimis pinnae confisa natanti,

Quodque caput spargens undis,velut oecupet imbrem,

Instabili gressu metitur litora comix. 556

Sed si magnarum poscunt discrimina rerum,

Haud dubitem praebere manus : vel litora tangara

lussa, vel hoc potius pelagus flatusque negabunt."

Haec fatur solvensque ratem dat carbasa ventis, 560

Ad quorum motus non solum lapsa per altum

Aera dispersos traxere cadentia sulcos

Sidera, sed summis etiam quae fixa tenentur

Astra polls sunt visa quati. Niger inficit horror

Terga maris, longo per multa volumina tractu 565

Aestuat unda minax, flatusque incerta futuri

Turbida testantur conceptos aequora ventos.

Tunc rector trepidae fatur ratis : " Aspice, saevum

Quanta paret pelagus ; Zephyros intendat an Austros,

Incertum est : puppim dubius ferit undique pontus. 570

Nubibus et caelo Notus est ; si murmura ponti

280

BOOK V

horn ; nor was she carved out in a clear-cut hollow
of her central orb ; nor did she prolong her tapering
extremities with upright horn. She was red, with
an indication of storms ; then she was pale and
showed a sallow face, and saddened as her counten-
ance began to pass behind a cloud. For the rest,
1 like not the tossing of the trees or the beat of
the waves on the shore ; or when the dolphin with
changing course challenges the sea to rise, and the
cormorant prefers the land, and the heron dares
to fly aloft and trusts his water-cleaving pinion, and
the crow, sprinkling his head with brine, seems to
forestall the rain and paces the shore with lurching
gait — I like not these signs. Nevertheless, if a
great crisis requires it, I cannot hesitate to lend my
aid : either I will land you where you bid me, or
the wind and waves, not I, shall say you nay." —
With these words he unmoored his boat and spread
his canvas to the winds. At the motion of the
winds, not only the meteors which glide through
the high heaven drawing after them trains of
diffused light as they fall, but also the stars which
remain fixed in the summit of the sky, seemed to
be shaken. A shudder of darkness blackened the
ridges of the sea ; the angry deep boiled with a
long swell, wave following wave ; and the swollen
billows, uncertain of the cominfij storm, gave token
that they were in travail with hem pest. Then said
the skipper of the restless boat : " See what mighty
mischief the cruel sea is brewing. I know not
whether it threatens us with winds from West or
South ; for the shifting current strikes the boat
from every side. The South wind prevails in the
clouds and in the sky ; but if we mark the moaning

281

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Consulimus, Cori veniet mare. Gurgite tanto

Nee ratis Hesperias tanget nee naufragus oras.

Desperare viam et vetitos convertere cursus

Sola salus. Liceat vexata litora puppe 675

Prendere^ ne longe nimium sit proxima tellus."

Fisus cuncta sibi cessura pericula Caesar
"Sperne minas" inquit "pelagi ventoque furenti
Trade sinum. Italiam si caelo auctore recusas.
Me pete. Sola tibi causa est haec iusta timoris, 580
Veetorem non nosse tuum, quern numina numquam
Destituunt, de quo male tunc fortuna meretur.
Cum post vota venit. Medias perrumpe procellas
Tutela secure mea. Caeli iste fretique,
JNon puppis nostrae, labor est : banc Caesare pressam 585
A fluctu defendet onus. Nee longa furori
Ventorum saevo dabitur mora : proderit undis
Ista ratis. Ne flecte manum, fuge proxima velis
Litora : turn Calabro portu te crede potitum.
Cum iam non poterit puppi nostraeque salutl 590

Altera terra dari. Quid tanta strage paretur,
Ignoras : quaerit pelagi caelique tumultu.
Quod praestet Fortuna mihi." Non plura locuto
Avolsit laceros percussa puppe rudentes
Turbo rapax fragilemque super volitantia malum 695
Vela tulit ; sonuit victis conpagibus alnus.
282

BOOK V

of the sea, a gale from the North-west will master
the main. In such a tlood neither ship nor ship-
wrecked sailor will ever reach the shore of Italy.
Our one cliance is to resign all hope of a passage
and retrace our forbidden course. Suffer me to
make the shore with my battered craft, or else the
nearest land may prove too distant."

But Caesar was confident that all dangers would
make way for him. "Despise the angry sea/' he
cried, '*and spread your sail to the raging wind.
If you refuse to make for Italy when Heaven
forbids, then make for it when I command. One
cause alone justifies your fear — that you know not
whom you carry. He is a man whom the gods
never desert, whom Fortune treats scurvily when
she comes merely in answer to his prayer. Burst
through the heart of the storm, relying on my
protection. Yonder trouble concerns the sky and
sea, but not our bark ; for Caesar treads the deck,
and her freight shall insure her against the waves.
No long duration shall be permitted to the fierce
fury of the winds : this bark shall be the salvation
of the sea. Turn not your helm ; use your sail
to flee from the neighbouring shore ; then you must
believe that you have gained an Italian harbour,
when it is no longer possible for any other land
to shelter our boat and secure our safety. You
know not the meaning of this wild confusion : by
this hurly-burly of sea and sky Fortune is seeking
a boon to confer on me." Ere he spoke another
word, the raging whirlwind smote the vessel and
tore away the tattered cordage, and bore off the
sails that fluttered over the frail mast, the hull
groaned as the seams gave way.

283

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Inde ruunt toto concita pericula mundo.
Primus ab oceano caput exeris Atlanteo^
Core, movens aestus ; iam te tollente furehat
Pontus et in scopulos totas erexerat undas :
Occurrit gelidus Boreas pelagusque retundit,
Et dubium pendet, vento cui concidat, aequor.
Sed Scythici vicit rabies Aquilonis et undas
Torsit et abstrusas penitus vada fecit harenas.
Nee perfert pontum Boreas ad saxa suuinque
In fluctus Cori frangit mare, motaque possunt
Aequora subductis etiam concurrere ventis.
Non Euri cessasse minas, non imbribus atrum
Aeolii iacuisse Notum sub carcere saxi
Crediderim ; cunctos solita de parte ruentes
Defendisse suas violento turbine terras.
Sic pelagus mansisse loco. Nam priva ^ procellis
Aequora rapta ferunt : Aegaeas transit in undas
Tyrrhenum, sonat lonio vagus Hadria ponto.
A quotiens frustra pulsatos aequore montes
Obruit ilia dies ! quam celsa cacumina pessura
Tellus victa dedit ! non ullo litore surgunt
Tam validi fluctus, alioque ex orbe voluti
A magno venere mari, mundumque coercens
Monstriferos agit unda sinus. Sic rector Olympi
Cuspide fraterna lassatum in saecula fulmen
Adiuvit, regnoque accessit terra secundo,

^ priva Hoasman : parva MS8,

^ •' The sea as a whole " is meant.
284

p

BOOK V

And now dangers, summoned from all the world,
came rushing on. First the North-west wind raised
his head above the Atlantic Ocean and stirred the
tides ; and soon the sea, roused by him, was raging
and would have lifted up all its waves to cover
the cliffs ; but the cold North wind struck athwart
and beat back the flood, till the sea hung doubtful
before which wind it would fall. But the fury of
the Scythian North wind prevailed : it lashed the
waves in circles and changed to shallows the sands
hidden far below. But it could not carry the sea
right to the shore, but broke its tide against the
waves raised by the North-west wind ; and, even
if the winds were hushed, the angry waters might
carry on their strife. I cannot but believe that the
fierce East wind was active then, and that the
South wind, black with storm, was not idle in the
prison of Aeolus' cave, and that all the winds,
rushing from their accustomed quarters, protected
their own regions with furious hurricane ; and that
therefore the sea ^ remained in its place. Separate
seas were caught up by the storm and carried away
by the winds : the Tyrrhene Sea migrated to the
Aegean, and the Adriatic moved and roared in the
Ionian basin. That day buried mountains which
the waves had often before battered in vain ; and
the defeated earth sent lofty peaks to the bottom.
No shore gave birth to these mighty waves : they
came rolling from another region and from the
outer sea, and the waters which encircle the world
drove on these teeming billows. Thus, when his
own thunderbolt was weary, the Ruler of Olympus
called in his brother's trident to help in punishing
mankind ; and earth became an appanage of the

285

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Cum mare convolvit gentes, cum litora Telhys

Noluit ulla pati caelo contenta teneri.

Tum quoque tanta maris moles crevisset in astra, 625

Ni superum rector press'S'^et nubibus undas.

Non caeli nox ilia fuit : latet obsitus aer

Infernae pallore domus nimbisque gravatus

Deprimitur, fluctusque in nubibus accipit imbrem.

Lux etiam metuenda perit, nee fulgura currunt 630

Clara^ sed obscurum nimbosus dissilit aer.

Tum superum convexa tremunt, atque arduus axis

Intonuit, motaque poli conpage laborant.

Extimuit natura chaos ; rupisse videntur

Concordes elementa moras, rursusque redire 635

Nox manes mixtura deis : spes una salutis,

Quod tanta mundi nondum periere ruina.

Quantum Leucadio placidus de vertice pontus

Despicitur, tantum nautae videre trementes

Fluctibus e summis praeceps mare \ cumque tumentes 640

Rursus hiant undae, vix eminet aequore malus.

Nubila tanguntur velis et terra carina.

Nam pelagus, qua parte sedet, non celat harenas

Exhaustum in cumulos, omnisque in fluctibus unda est.

Artis opem vicere metus, nescitque magister, 645

Quam frangat, cui cedat aquae. Discordia ponti

Succurrit miseris, fluctusque evertere puppim

Non valet in fluctum : victum latus unda repellens

^ The sea : of. iv. 110. The reference is to Deucalion's flood.
286

BOOK V

second kingdom,* when the Ocean swallowed up
the human race and refused to endure any limits,
content with no bound except the sky. Now once
more the mighty mass of waters would have risen
to the stars, had not the Ruler of the gods kept
down the sea with clouds. The darkness was not
the common darkness of night : the heavens were
hidden and veiled with the dimness of the infernal
regions, and weighed down by clouds ; and in the
midst of the clouds the rain poured into the sea.
Light, even dreadful light, died ; no bright lightnings
darted, but the stormy sky gave dim flashes.
Next, the dome of the gods quaked, the lofty sky
thundered, and the heavens, with all their structure
jarred, were troubled. Nature dreaded chaos : it
seemed that the elements had burst their harmonious
bonds, and that Night was returning, to blend the
shades below with the gods above ; the one hope
of safety for the gods is this — that in the universal
catastrophe they have not yet been destroyed.
Far as the eye looks down from the Leucadian peak
upon calm sea, so high a precipice of water was seen
by trembling mariners on the top of the billows ;
and when once again the swollen waves open their
jaws, the mast barely projects above the surface.
The sails reach the clouds, the keel rests on the
bottom. For the water, where it sinks down, does
not cover the bottom : it all goes to form mounds
and is used up in the waves. The danger was too
great for the aid derived from skill : the steersman
knows not when to face the current and when to
evade it. The strife of the waters is helpful to the
wretched sailors ; for one wave is powerless against
another to upset the vessel ; when her side is struck,

387

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Erigit, atque omni surgit ratis ardua vento.

Non humilem Sasona vadis, non litora curvae 660

Thessaliae saxosa pavent oraeque malignos

Ambraciae portus, scopulosa Ceraunia nautae

Summa timent. Credit iam di^na pericula Caesar

Fatis esse suis. " Quantusne evertere " dixit

"Me superis labor est, parva quem puppe sedentem 656

Tam magno petiere mari ? si gloria leti

Est pelago donata mei bellisque negamur,

Intrepidus, quamcumque datis milii, numina, mortem

Accipiam. Licet ingentes abriiperit actus

Festinata dies fatis, sat magna peregi. 660

Arctoas domui gentes, inimica subegi

Arma metu, vidit Magnum mihi Roma secundum,

lussa plebe tuli fasces per bella negatos ;

Nulla meis aberit titulis Romana potestas.

Nee sciet hoc quisquam, nisi tu, quae sola meorum 665

Conscia votorum es, me, quamvis plenus honorum

Et dictator eam Stygias et consul ad umbras.

Privatum, Fortuna, mori. Mihi funere nullo

Est opus, o superi ; lacerum retinete cadaver

Fluctibus in mediis, desint mihi busta rogusque, 670

Dum metuar semper terraque expecter ab omni."

Haec fatum decimus, dictu mirabile, fluctus

Invalida cum puppe levat, nee rursus ab alto

Aggere deiecit pelagi sed pertulit unda,

Scruposisque angusta vacant ubi litora saxis, 676

1 See n. to ii. 627.

^ The meaning is, that Fortune alone would know Caesar's
disappointment in dying uncrowned.

' The ancients believed that every tenth wave was larger
than the rest. Lowell has "The surge and thunder of the
decuman."

28$

BOOK V

another sea beats her back and rights her, and
she rises erect because all the winds blow at once.
It is not the shoals of low-lying Sason^ that frighten
the crews, nor yet the rocky shore of winding
1 hessaly, nor the scanty harbours of the Ambracian
coast, but rather the tops of the Ceraunian moun-
tains.— Caesar considers at last that the danger is on
a scale to match his destiny. " What trouble the
gods take," he cried, ^Ho work my ruin, assailing
me on my little boat with such a mighty storm ! If
the glory of my death, denied to the battle-field,
has been granted to the deep, I shall not shrink
from meeting whatever end Heaven appoints for
me. Although the date, hastened on by destiny,
cuts short a great career, my achievements are
sufficient : I have conquered the Northern peoples ;
by fear alone I have quelled the Roman forces
opposed to me ; Rome has seen me take precedence
of Magnus ; by appeal to the people I won the
consulship denied to me by force of arms ; no Roman
office will be found missing from my record ; and
none other than Fortune, who shares with me the
secret of my ambition, shall ever know that, though
I go down to the Stygian shades loaded with honours,
dictator as well as consul, nevertheless I am dying a
private citizen. ^ I ask no burial of the gods : let
them leave my mutilated corpse amid the waves ;
I can dispense with grave and funeral pyre, provided
I am feared for ever and my apjiearance is dreaded
by every land." As he spoke thus, a tenth wave^ —
marvellous to tell — upbore him and his battered
craft ; nor did the billow hurl him back again from
the high watery crest but bore him onwards till
it laid him on the land, where a narrow strip of

289

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Inposuit terrae. Pariter tot regna, tot urbes
Fortunamque suam tacta tellure recepit.

Sed non tam remeans Caesar iam luce propinqua
Quam tacita sua castra fuga comitesque fefellit.
Circumfusa duci flevit gemituque suorum 680

Et non ingratis incessit turba querellis.
"Quo te^ dure, tulit virtus temeraria, Caesar?
Aut quae nos viles animas in fata relinquens
Invitis spargenda dabas tua membra procellis ?
Cum tot in bac anima populorum vita sal usque 685

Pendeat et tantus caput hoc sibi fecerit orbis,
Saevitia est voluisse mori. NuUusne tuorum
Emeruit comitum fatis non posse superstes
Esse tuis ? Cum te raperet mare, corpora segnis
Nostra sopor tenuit. Pudet heu ! Tibi causa petendae
Haec fuit Hesperiae, visum est quod mittere quemquam
Tam saevo crudele mari. Sors ultima rerum 692

In dubios casus et prona pericula morti
Praecipitare solet : mundi iam summa tenentem
Permisisse mari tantum ! quid numina lassas? 695

Sufficit ad fatum belli favor iste laborque
Fortunae, quod te nostris inpegit harenis ?
Hine usus placuere deum, non rector ut orbis
Nee dominus rerum, sed felix naufragus esses ? "
Talia iactantes discussa nocte serenus 700

* Not the shore of Italy, as one might gather from Lucan ;
he was driven back by the storm and failed to cross the sea.

* I.e. has saved you from drowning.

290

I

BOOK V

shore was clear of jagged rocks. He touched the
land ^ and recovered in one moment realms and cities
innumerable and his own lucky star.

But when Caesar returned next day to his army
and his officers, they were not taken unawares by
his return as they had been by his secret departure.
Crowding round their leader, they shed tears and
assailed him with lament and expostulations not
unpleasing to his ear. ''Hardhearted Caesar, to
what lengths your rash courage has carried you !
And at the mercy of what fate did you leave our
worthless lives, when you gave your limbs to be
torn in pieces by the reluctant winds? When the
existence and safety of so many nations depend
upon your single life, and so large a part of the
world has chosen you for its head, it is cruel of you
to court death. Did none of your comrades deserve
the honour of being prevented from surviving your
end? While the sea drove you along, our limbs
were held by slothful sleep ; you put us to the blush.
You made for Italy yourself, because you deemed it
heartless to bid any other cross such a stormy sea.
In general it is utter despair that hurls men into
jeopardy and danger that runs straight to death ;
but that you, who are now master of the world,
should grant such licence to the sea ! Why do you
overtask the goodwill of Heaven? Fortune has
hurled you here upon the shore ;2 for the issue of the
war, are you content with that instance of her favour
and assistance ? Is this the use you prefer to make
of Heaven, that you should be, not the ruler of the
world or the master of mankind, but a shipwrecked
wretch who escapes from drowning ? " As thus they
argued, darkness was dispelled and clear daylight

291

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Oppressit cum sole dies, fessumque tumentes
G)nposuit pelagus ventis patientibus undas.

Nee noil Hesperii lassatum fluctibus aequor
Ut videre duces, purumque insurgere caelo
Fracturum pelagus Borean, solvere carinas ; 705

Quas veiitus doctaeque pari moderamine dextrae
Permixtas habuere diu, latumque per aequor,
Ut terrestre, coit consertis puppibus agmen.
Sed nox saeva modum venti velique tenorem
Eripuit nautis excussitque ordine puppes. 710

Strymona sic gelidum bruma pellente relinquunt
Poturae te, Nile, grues, primoque volatu
Effingunt varias casu monstrante figuras ;
Mox, ubi percussit tensas Notus altior alas,
Confusos temere inmixtae glomerantur in orbes, 715
Et turbata perit dispersis littera pinnis.
Cum primum redeunte die violentior aer
Puppibus incubuit Phoebeo concitus ortu,
Praetereunt frustra temptati litora Lissi
Nymphaeumque tenent ; nudas Aquilonibus undas 720
Succedens Boreae iam portum fecerat Auster.

Undique conlatis in robur Caesaris armis
Summa videns duri Magnus discrimina Martis
lam castris instare suis seponere tutum
Coniugii decrevit onus Lesboque remota 726

Te procul a saevi strepitu, Cornelia, belli
Occulere. Heu quantum mentes dominatur in aequas

* Palamedes was said to have invented the alphabet by
copying the figures formed by flocks of cranes in the sky.

292

BOOK V

came upon them together with the sun ; and the
weary sea, permitted by the winds, calmed its
swollen billows.

The commanders in Italy also, when they saw that
the sea was weary of waves, and that a clear North
wind, rising in the sky, would soon break the force
of the waters, cast loose their ships ; and these were
long kept close together by the wind and by skilled
hands all steering the same course : like soldiers
marching on land, the fleet sailed together over
the broad sea, vessel keeping close to vessel. But
night, proving unkind, robbed the sailors of steady
wind, stopped the even progress of the sails, and
threw the ships out of station. Thus, when cranes
are driven by winter from the frozen Strymon to
drink the water of the Nile, at the beginning of
their flight they describe various chance-taught
figures ; but later, when a loftier wind beats on their
outspread wings, they combine at random and form
disordered packs, until the letter^ is broken and
disappears as the birds are scattered. As soon as
day returned, and the brisker air roused by the
dawn bore down on the ships, after trying in vain to
land at Lissus, they sailed past to reach Nymphaeum,
where the sea, unprotected on the North, had been
turned into a harbour by the shift of wind from
North to South.

When Caesar's forces were collected from every
quarter to full strength, Magnus saw that his army
must soon face the supreme crisis of stern war, and
therefore decided to place in safety his wife, a
precious charge, and to hide Cornelia in the retire-
ment of Lesbos, far from the tumult of cruel
warfare. Ah ! how mighty is the power of wedded

293

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

lusta Venus ! dubium trepidumque ad proelia, Magne,

Te quoque fecit amor ; quod nolles stare sub ictu

Fortunae, quo mundus erat Romanaque fata, 730

Coniunx sola fuit. Mentem iam verba paratam

Destituunt, blandaeque iuvat ventura trahentem

Indulgere morae et tempus subducere fatis.

Nocte sub extrema pulso torpore quietis,

Dum fovet amplexu gravidum Cornelia curls 735

Pectus et aversi petit oscula grata mariti,

Umentes mirata genas percussaque caeco

Volnere non audet flentem deprendere Magnum.

Ille gemens " Non nunc vita mihi dulcior," inquit,

" Cum taedet vitae, laeto sed tempore, coniunx, 740

Venit maesta dies et quam nimiumque parumque

Distulimus ; iam totus adest in proelia Caesar.

Cedendum est bellis ; quorum tibi tuta latebra

Lesbos erit. Desiste preces temptare, negavi

Iam mihi. Non longos a me patiere recessus ; 746

Praecipites aderunt casus ; properante ruina

Summa cadunt. Satis est audisse pericula Magni :

Meque tuus decepit amor, civilia bella

Si spectare potes. Nam me iam Marte parato

Securos cepisse pudet cum coniuge somnos, 750

Eque tuo, quatiunt miserum cum classica mundum,

Surrexisse sinu. Vereor civilibus armis

Pompeium nullo tristem committere damno.

Tutior interea populis et tutior omni

Rege late, positamque procul fortuna mariti 765

^ He must propitiate ill-will by gome personal sacrifice.
294

f

BOOK V

love over gentle hearts ! Even Magnus was made
anxious and afraid of battle by his love ; one thing
alone he wished to save from the stroke that over-
hung the world and the destiny of Rome ; and that
one thing was his wife. Though his mind was made
up already, words failed him : he preferred to post-
pone what must come, to yield to the allurements of
delay, and to steal a reprieve from destiny. Night
was ending and the drowsiness of sleep was banished,
when Cornelia clasped in her arms the care-laden
breast of her husband and sought the dear lips of
him who turned from her; wondering at his wet
cheeks and smitten by a trouble she could not
understand, she was abashed to discover Magnus in
tears. Sighing, he said : " O my wife, dearer to me
than life when life was sweet, not now when I am
weary of it, the sad day which we have put off at
once too long and not long enough has come at last :
Caesar with all his forces is upon us now ; war
cannot be resisted, but Lesbos will hide you safe
from war. Cease to urge me with entreaty ; I have
already said 'no' to myself. You will not long
suffer separation from me : the decisive event will
come speedily ; the mightiest fall with rapid over-
throw. It is enough for you to know by report the
dangers that Magnus incurs ; and you love me less
than I imagined, if you can bear to look on at civil
war. As for me, now that battle is at hand, I am
ashamed to enjoy peaceful sleep at my wife's side,
and to rise from her embrace when the war-note
rouses the suffering world. I fear to trust myself to
civil war, unless I am suddenetl by a loss of my
own.^ You meanwhile must lie hidden, safer than
any nation or any king ; and if you are far away, the

295

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Non tota te mole premat. Si numina nostras
Inpulerint acies, maneat pars optima Magni,
Sitque mihi, si fata prement victorque cruentus.
Quo fugisse velim." Vix tantum infirma dolorera
Cepit, et attonito cesserunt pectore sensus.
Tandem vox maestas potuit proferre querellas :
" Nil mihi de fatis thalami superisque relictum est,
Magne, queri : nostros non rumpit funus amores
Nee diri fax summa rogi, sed sorte frequent!
Plebeiaque nimis careo dimissa marito.
Hostis ad adventum rumpamus foedera taedae,
Placemus socerum ! Sic est tibi cognita^ Magne,
Nostra fides ? credisne aliquid mihi tutius esse
Quam tibi ? non olim casu pendemus ab uno ?
Fulminibus me, saeve, iubes tantaeque ruinae
Absentem praestare caput ? secura videtur
Sors tibi, cum facias etiamnunc vota, perisse ?
Ut nolim servire malis sed morte parata
Te sequar ad manes, feriat dum maesta remotas
Fama procul terras, vivam tibi nempe superstes.
Adde, quod adsuescis fatis tantumque dolorem,
Crudelis, me ferre doces. Ignosce fatenti,
Posse pati timeo. Quod si sunt vota, deisque
Audior, eventus rerum sciet ultima coniunx.
Sollicitam rupes iam te victore tenebuut.

^ By separation from her h us Laud.
296

BOOK V

destiny of your husband need not crush you with
its full weight. If Heaven hurls my armies to
destruction, let the best part of me survive, and let
me have a welcome hiding-place from the pursuit of
Fortune and the conqueror's cruelty." Scarce could
she in her weakness sustain so great a sorrow ; her
senses fled from her stricken breast. At last she
was able to utter her sad remonstrances: "No
power is left me, Magnus, to complain of our destiny
in marriage or of the gods. For it is not death that
divorces us, nor the final brand of the awful funeral
pyre ; no, by a lot all too common and familiar, 1
lose my husband, because he sends me from him.
Because the enemy draws near, let us dissolve our
marriage-bond and so appease the father of your
former wife ! Is this the opinion you have formed of
my troth, Magnus? Do you believe that my safety
can be different from your safety ? Have we not for
long been dependent upon the same hazard .f* Are
you so cruel as to bid me, apart from you, expose
my head to the thunder and the downfall of the
world ? Do you think it is an easy lot for me to have
already perished/ while you are still praying for suc-
cess ? Suppose I refuse to be mastered by misfortune,
and follow you to the nether world by a prompt death ;
yet, luitil the sad news falls on regions far away, I shall
surely live on after you are dead. Besides, you are
cruel in habituating me to my fate, and teaching me
to bear so great a sorrow. Forgive the confession —
but I fear that I may find life endurable. But if
prayers avail and the gods hear mine, then your
wife will be the last to learn the issue of events.
After your victory, I shall haunt the cliffs of Lesbos
in my anxiety; and I shall dread the ship that

297

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Et puppem, quae fata feret tam laeta, timebo.

Nee solvent audita metus mihi prospera belli.

Cum vacuis proiecta locis a Caesare possim

Vel fugiente capi. Notescent litora clari

Nominis exilio^ positaque ibi coniuge Magni 786

Quis Mytilenaeas poterit nescire latebras ?

Hoc precor extremum : si nil tibi victa relinquent

Tutius arma fuga^ cum te commiseris undis,

Quolibet infaustam potius deflecte carinara ;

Litoribus quaerere meis." Sic fata relictis 790

Exiluit stratis amens tormentaque nulla

Vult differre mora. Non maesti pectora Magni

Sustinet amplexu dulci, non colla tenere,

Extremusque perit tam longi fructus amoris,

Praecipitantque suos luctus^ neuterque recedens 795

Sustinuit dixisse " vale " ; vitamque per omnem

Nulla fuit tam maesta dies ; nam cetera damna

Durata iam mente malis firmaque tulerunt.

Labitur infelix manibusque excepta suorum
Fertur ad aequoreas, ac se prosternit, harenas, 800

Litoraque ipsa tenet, tandemque inlata carinae est.
Non sic infelix patriam portusque reliquit
Hesperios, saevi premerent cum Caesaris arma.
Fida comes Magni vadit duce sola relicto
Pompeiumque fiigit. Quae nox tibi proxima venit, 806
Insomnis ; viduo tum primum frigida lecto
Atque insueta quies uni, nudumque marito

298

r

BOOK V

brings such news of battle won. The report of
victory will not allay my fears, because in the
deserted places whither I am cast out I may be
taken prisoner by Caesar, even when he is a fugitive.
Tlie exile of one who bears a famous name will
throw a light upon the shore of Lesbos; and who
can remain ignorant of the asylum of Mitylene, when
it harbours the wife of Magnus? This is my last
prayer : if defeat makes flight your safest course and
you entrust yourself to the sea, steer your ill-starred
bark to any land but Lesbos ; where I am, the
foe will seek you." Having thus spoken, she
sprang forth from the bed in frenzy, refusing to put
off her agony for a moment. She cannot bear to
clasp in her dear arms the breast or head of her
sorrowing husband, and the last chance of enjoying
their long and faithful love was thrown away. They
hurry their grief to an end, and neither had the
iieart to say a parting farewell. Of their whole lives
this was the saddest day. For all the losses that
were to follow were borne with hearts already
strengthened and steeled by misfortune.

The hapless lady swooned and fell, but was caught
in the arms of her attendants and carried towards
the sea-sands. Tliere she fell down and clutched
the very strand, till at last she was borne on ship-
board. She had suffered less when she left her
native land and the harbours of Italy, hard pressed
by the armies of cruel Caesar. Once the faithful
companion of Magnus, now she departs without him,
leaving him behind in her flight. The next night
she spent brought her no sleep : her bed was
widowed for the first time ; its coldness and silence
were strange to her in her solitude ; and her side

299

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Non haerente latus. Somno quam saepe gravata
Deceptis vacuum manibus conplexa cubile est
Atque oblita fugae quaesivit nocte maritum ! 810

Nam quamvis flamma tacitas urente medullas
Non iuvat in toto corpus iactare cubili :
Servatur pars ilia tori. Caruisse timebat
Pompeio ; sed non superi tarn laeta parabant :
Instabat miserae, Magnum quae redderet, liora. 816

300

BOOK V

was unprotected, with no husband near her. How
often, weighed down by drowsiness, she clasped the
empty couch with cheated arms ! How often,
forgetful of her flight, she sought her husband in the
darkness ! For, though her secret heart burned with
love's fire, she would not toss her limbs over all the
bed, but abstained from touching his side of it. She
feared that she had lost Pompey for ever ; but
Heaven intended a worse fate than that. The hour
was soon coming that was to restore Magnus to his
unhappy wife.

301

BOOK VI

iV.

k

LIBER SEXTUS

PosTQUAM castra duces pugnae iam mente propinquis

Inposuere iugis admotaque comminus arma,

Parque suum videre dei, capere omnia Caesar

Moenia Graiorum spernit Martemque secundum

lam nisi de genero fatis debere recusat. 6

Funestam mundo votis petit omnibus horam,

In casum quae cuncta ferat ; placet alea fati

Alterutrum mersura caput. Ter collibus omnes

Explicuit turmas et signa minantia pugnam

Testatus numquam Latiae se desse ruinae. 10

Ut videt ad nullos exciri posse tumultus

In pugnam generum sed clauso fidere vallo,

Signa mo vet tectusque via dumosa per arva

Dyrrachii praeceps rapiendas tendit ad arces.

Hoc iter aequoreo piaecepit limite Magnus, 16

Quemque vocat collem Taulantius incola Petram,

Insedit castris Ephyreaque moenia servat

Defendens tutam vel solis rupibus ^ urbem.

Non opus banc veterum nee moles structa tuetiir

Humanusque labor facilis, licet ardua tollat, 20

Cedere vel bellis vel cuncta moventibus annis,

Sed munimen habet nullo quassabile ferro

Naturam sedemque loci ; nam clausa profundo

1 rupibus Dorville : turribus M88.

^ Ephyra is the ancient name of Corinth. Dyrrachium (also
called Epidanmus) was a Corinthian colony.

BOOK VI

Thus the leaders, with minds now made up for
battle, had pitched their camps on neighbouring
heights, the armies were brought face to face, and
the gods saw their pair of combatants before them ;
and Caesar, too proud to take city after city of the
Greeks, refused to accept from fate any further
victory except over his kinsman. All his prayers
were for that hour, fatal to the worlds that should
stake all on a cast of the die ; he chose the hazard
of destiny that must destroy one head or the other.
Thrice he deployed upo2i the hills all his squadrons
and warlike standards, and proved that he was
never backward in the overthrow of Rome. But
when he saw that Pompey, trusting to his ring of
entrenchments, could not be drawn forth to battle
by any demonstrations, he struck his camp and
marched in haste to seize the fortress of Dyrrachium
through a wooded country that concealed his
movements. Pompey forestalled this march by
following the coast-line ; encamping on the hill
which the Taulantians call Petra, he protected the
Corinthian city ^ — a city which its cliffs alone keep
safe. No work of ancient times protects it, nor
masonry piled by men's hands, which, though it
raise its structures high, falls an easy prey to the
besieger or all-destroying time ; its natural position
is a protection that no engine can shatter. On all

305

VOU I. I

xM. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Undique praecipiti scopulisque vomentibus aequoT
Exiguo debet, quod non est insula, colli. 25

Terribiles ratibus sustentant moenia cautes,
loniumque furens, rabido cum tollitur Austro,
Templa domosque quatit, spumatque in culmina pontus.

Hie avidam belli rapuit spes inproba mentem
Caesaris, ut vastis diffusum collibus hostem 30

Cingeret ignarum ducto procul aggere valli.
Metatur terras oculis, nee caespite tantum
Contentus fragili subitos attollere muros
Ingentes cautes avolsaque saxa metallis
Graiorumque domos direptaque moenia transfert. 35
Extruitur, quod non aries inpellere saevus.
Quod non ulla queat violenti machina belli.
Franguntur montes, planumque per ardua Caesar
Ducit opus : pandit fossas turritaque summis
Disponit castella iugis magnoque recessu 40

Amplexus fines saltus nemorosaque tesqua
Et silvas vastaque feras indagine claudit.
Non desunt campi, non desunt pabula Magno,
Castraque Caesareo circumdatus aggere mutat :
Flumina tot cursus illic exorta fatigant, 46

Illic mersa suos ; operumque ut summa revisat,
Defessus Caesar mediis intermanet agris.

Nunc vetus Iliacos attollat fabula muros
Ascribatque deis ; fragili circumdata testa
Moenia mirentur refugi Babylonia Parthi. 60

* The distances were so great that direct measurement of
the ground was not practicable.

306

BOOK VI

sides it is surrounded by sea deep up to the sliore,
and by cliffs that spout forth the sea- water; and
only a hill of moderate size prevents it from being
an island. Precipices dreaded by ships support its
walls ; and the raging Ionian sea, when lifted up by
Southern gales, shakes its temples and houses, and
hurls the spray to its highest roofs.

Here Caesar's mind, eager for war, was caught by
an extravagant design : though the enemy's forces
were scattered over a wide extent of hills, he planned
to draw a distant line of entrenchments and surround
them without their knowing it. He used his eyes ^
to survey the ground ; and, not content merely to
rear hasty walls of crumbling turf, he carries for his
use huge boulders and blocks torn from the quarries,
whole houses of the natives and dismantled city-
walls. A structure rose, that no fierce battering-ram
nor any engine of forceful war could overthrow. The
mountains were broken through, and Caesar carried
his works of even height across the hills ; he opens
up trenches and builds turreted forts at intervals on
the tops of ridges ; with a wide concave line he
takes in territories and upland lawns, wooded wastes
and forests, and encloses the wild animals with far-
flung snare. Magnus had plains and fodder in
abundance, and shifted his camp within the circle of
Caesar's lines ; within that space many rivers take
their rise and run their restless course down to the
sea ; and, when Caesar wishes to inspect his most
distant works, he rests a while from his weariness
when half-way round.

After this, let ancient legend praise the walls of
Troy and ascribe the building to the gods ; let
Parthians, who fight retreating, marvel at the brick

307

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

En quantum Tigris, quantum celer ambit Orontes,

Assyriis quantum populis telluris Eoae

Sufficit in regnum, subitum bellique tumultu

Raptum clausit opus. Tanti periere labores.

Tot potuere manus aut iungere Seston Abydo 66

Ingestoque solo Phrixeum elidere pontum,

Aut Pelopis latis Ephyren abrumpere regnis

Et ratibus longae flexus donare Maleae,

Aut aliquem mundi, quamvis natura negasset.

In melius mutare locum. Coit area belli : 60

Hie alitur sanguis terras fluxurus in omnes.

Hie et Thessalicae clades Libycaeque tenentur ;

Aestuat angusta rabies civilis harena.

Prima quidem surgens operum structura fefellit
Pompeium, veluti mediae qui tutus in arvis C5

Sicaniae rabidum nescit latrare Pelorum,
Aut, vaga cum Tethys Rutupinaque litora fervent,
Unda Caledonios fallit turbata Britannos.
Ut primum vasto saeptas videt aggere terras,
Ipse quoque a tuta deducens agmina Petra 70

Diversis spargit tumulis, ut Caesaris arma
Laxet et effuso claudentem milite tendat ;
Ac tantum saepti vallo sibi vindicat agri,
Parva Mycenaeae quantum sacrata Dianae
Distat ab excelsa nemoralis Aricia Roma, 75

^ See n. to i. 10.

* The meaning is that the space enclosed by Caesar's lines is
equal to the area of Mesopotamia or Syria.

^ I.e. it might have been better spent. * The Hellespont.

* The battles of Pharsalia and Thapsus are meant.

* I.e. the dogs of Scylla: cf. i. 548.

30S

BOOK VI

walls round Babylon.^ Behold ! a space as great as
is surrounded by the Tigris or swift Orontes ^ — a
s})ace large enough to form a kingdom for the
Assyrian nations of the East — is here enclosed by
works hastily thrown up in the stress of war. But
all that labour was wasted.^ Such an army of busy
hands might have joined Sestos to Abydos, piling up
soil till the sea of Phrixus * was forced from its place ;
they might have torn Corinth loose from the wide
realm of Pelops, so as to save ships from the long
circuit of Cape Malea ; or they might, in defiance of
Nature, have changed for the better some other
region of earth. The field of war was now con-
tracted ; here is preserved the blood that will flow
hereafter over every land ; here the victims of
Thessaly and the victims of Africa ^ are penned up ;
the madness of civil war seethes within narrow
lists.

The construction of these works passed unnoticed
by Pompey when first they rose : so he who dwells
safe in the centre of Sicily knows not that the mad
dogs of Pelorus ® are barking ; or when the tides of
Ocean and the Rutupian shore are raging, the stormy
waves are not heard by the Britons of the North.
But as soon as he saw that his position was shut in
by a wide entrenchment, he too led down his forces
from the protection of Petra and scattered them
upon different heights, hoping to relax the pressure
of Caesar's army, and to put a strain upon him, as he
carried on the blockade with scattered troops. For
himself he claims a space surrounded by a palisade
— a space equal to the distance that divides lofty
Rome from little Aricia with its grove, sacred to
Diana of Mycenae ; and in the same distance Tiber

309

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Quoque modo terrae praelapsus moenia Thybris

In mare descendit, si nusquam torqueat amnem.

Classica nulla sonant iniussaque tela vagantur,

Et fit saepe nefas iaculum temptante lacerto.

Maior cura duces miscendis abstrahit armis : 80

Pompeium exhaustae praebenda ad gramina terrae.

Quae currens obtrivit eques, gradibusque citatis

Ungula frondentem discussit cornea campum.

Belliger attonsis sonipes defessus in arvis,

Advectos cum plena ferant praesepia culmos, 85

Ore novas poscens moribundus labitur herbas

Et tremulo medios abrumpit poplite gyros.

Corpora dum solvit tabes et digerit artus,

Traxit iners caelum fluvidae contagia pestis

Obscuram in nubem. Tali spiramine Nesis 90

Emittit Stygium nebulosis aera saxis,

Antraque letiferi rabiem Typhonis anhelant,

Inde labant populi, caeloque paratior unda

Omne pati virus duravit viscera caeno.

lam riget arta cutis distentaque lumina rumpit, 95

Igneaque in voltus et sacro fervida morbo

Pestis abit, fessumque caput se ferre recusat.

lam magis atque magis praeceps agit omnia fatum.

Nee medii dirimunt morbi vitamque necemque,

Sed languor cum morte venit ; turbaque cadentum 100

Aucta lues, dum mixta iacent incondita vivis

Corpora ; nam miseros ultra tentoria cives

Spargere funus erat. Tamen hos minuere labores

^ A strangely indirect way of saying that Pompey's lines
were about 15 miles long.

* Now Nisida, a small island in the Bay of Naples, which
was ouce volcanic.

^ The eruptions of this and other volcanoes were attributed
to the struggles of a Giant imprisoned under the mountain.

310

BOOK VI

that flows by the walls of Rome would reach the sea,
if the stream made no bend at any point.^ No war-
note sounds ; missiles fly to and fro unbidden, and
many a murder is done when the arm is merely
testing the javelin. A more pressing anxiety
restrains the leaders from joining battle. Pompey
was prevented by the failure of the district to
provide fodder : the horsemen in their speed had
trodden it down, when the horny hoofs galloped over
the grassy plain and tore it up. The war-horse
flagged on the close-cropped fields ; and though the
well-fille4 mangers offered him imported hay, he
neighed for fresh grass as he fell down to die, and
stopped short with quivering haunches in the act
of wheeling. While their bodies rotted away and
parted limb from limb, the stagnant air drew up the
infection of that putrefying plague into a murky cloud.
With such an exhalation Nesis ^ sends forth a deathly
atmosphere from her misty rocks, while the caverns
of Typhon ^ breathe forth death and madness. The
men were stricken next ; and the water, ever readier
than air to absorb poison, made hard their inward
parts with its foulness. Now the skin grew tight
and hard, causing the straining eyes to start out, and
the fiery plague, inflamed with erysipelas, moved to
the face ; and the heavy head refused to carry its
own weight. Swift death, ever more and more,
swept all away ; no interval of sickness divided death
from life, but death kept pace with the ailment ; and
the pestilence was made worse by the crowd of
victims, because unburied bodies lay in contact with
the living. For to cast out the corpses of their
hapless countrymen beyond the circle of tents was
all the burial that men gave. Nevertheless, these

311

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

A tergo pelagus pulsusque Aquilonibus aer

Litoraque et plenae peregrina messe carinae. 105

At liber terrae spatiosis collibus hostis

Aere non pigro nee inertibus angitur undis,

Sed patitur saevam, veluti circumdatus arta

Obsidione, famem. Nondum turgentibiis altam

In segetem culmis cernit iniserabile volgus 110

In pecudum cecidisse cibos et carpere dumos

Et foliis spoliare nemus letumque minantes

Vellere ab ignotis dubias radicibus herbas.

Quae mollire queunt flamma, quae frangere raorsu,

Quaeque per abrasas utero demittere fauces, 115

Plurimaque humanis ante hoc incognita mensis

Diripiens miles saturum tamen obsidet hostem,

Ut primum libuit ruptis evadere claustris
Pompeio cunctasque sibi permittere terras,
Non obscura petit latebrosae tempora noctis, 120

Et raptum furto soceri cessantibus armis
Dedignatur iter : latis exire minis
Quaerit, et inpulso turres confringere vallo,
Perque omnes gladios et qua via caede paranda est.
Opportuna tamen valli pars visa propinqui, 125

Qua Minici castella vacant, et confraga densis
Arboribus dumeta tegunt. Hue pulvere nullo
Proditus agmen agit subitusque in moenia venit.
Tot simul e campis Latiae fulsere volucres.
Tot cecinere tubae. Ne quid victoria ferro 130

1 He proceeds to explain why Caesar also was unable to fight
a battle.

* The origin of the name is unknown.

BOOK VI

calamities were lessened by the sea at their backs
and the air set in motion by the North wind, by the
shore and the ships laden with foreign corn. Caesar's
army,^ on the other hand, encamped on spacious
heights and free to range the earth, was not troubled
by stifling air or stagnant waters ; but they suffered
from the pinch of hunger like men closely be-
sieged. The corn-blades were not yet swelling to
the height of harvest ; and therefore Caesar saw his
wretched men lying on the ground to eat the food
of beasts, plucking the bushes, rifling the trees of
their leaves, and culling from strange roots suspicious
plants that threatened death. The men fought for
food — whatever they could soften with fire, or break
with their teeth, or swallow down with rasped gullets,
and many things never tried before for human
consumption ; and yet they went on besieging a
well-fed foe.

When Pompey first saw fit to burst his barriers and
sally forth, and to allow himself the range of all the
earth, he did not seek the darkness and cover of
night, but scorned to steal a march while Caesar's
army rested. He desired to pass out through a wide
breach, overthrowing the ramparts and breaking
down the towers ; to face every armed foe and take
a path that bloodshed must open up. Yet a section
of the rampart that lay near seemed to suit his
purpose ; here the fortress of Minicius 2 afforded an
open space, and the broken wooded ground screened
him with a covering of trees. Hither he marched
his men ; no cloud of dust betrayed him and he
reached the wall unexpected. Then all at once the
Roman eagles glittered from the plain, and his
trumpets all sounded. That his victory might owe

313

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Deberet, pavor attonitos confecerat hostes.

Quod solum valuit virtus, iacuere perempti

Debuerant quo stare loco. Qui volnera ferrent,

lam deraiit, et nimbus agens tot tela peribat.

Turn piceos volvunt inmissae lampades ignes, 135

Turn quassae nutant turres lapsumque minantur.

Roboris inpacti crebros gemit agger ad ictus.

lam Pompeianae celsi super ardua valli

Exierant aquilae, iam mundi iura patebant :

Quern non mille simul turmis nee Caesare toto 140

Auferret Fortuna locum, victoribus unus

Eripuit vetuitque capi, seque arma tenente

Ac nondum strato Magnum vicisse negavit.

Scaeva viro nomen : castrorum in plebe merebat

Ante feras Rhodani gentes ; ibi sanguine multo 145

Promotus Latiam longo gerit ordine vitem,

Pronus ad omne nefas et qui nesciret, in armis

Quam magnum virtus crimen civilibus esset.

Hie ubi quaerentes socios iam Marte relicto

Tuta fugae cernit, "Quo vos pavor," inquit " adegit 150

Inpius et cunctis ignotus Caesaris armis ?

Terga datis morti ? cumulo vos desse virorum

Non pudet et bustis interque cadavera quaeri ?

Non ira saltem, iuvenes, pietate remota 156

Stabitis .'' E cunctis, per quos erumperet hostis,

Nos sumus electi. Non parvo sanguine Magni

Iste dies ierit. Peterem felicior umbras

*■ The darts themselves form the tempest.
• I.e. before the war in Gaul.

' This seems inooiisistent with the statement of 11. 132 f.
that all the defenders of this post had been killed.

BOOK VI

nothing to the sword, the alarm and surprise had
already disposed of the enemy. All that valour
could do they did : they lay dead at the post where
duty bade them stand. There were no longer any
men to be wounded, and the tempest ^ that bore
those many darts was wasted. Then torches were
hurled, rolling smoky fires ; then the battered towers
reeled and threatened to fall ; and the mound
echoed under the repeated blows of the timber
hurled against it. Now Pompey's eagles had passed
out over the top of the high rampart ; now the
freedom of the whole world was before them. But
though Fortune with a thousand squadrons combined
and all Caesar's might could not make good the post,
one man snatched it from the conquerors and forbade
its capture : " While I still wield my weapons and
have not yet been laid low, Magnus has not yet
been victorious," he cried. Scaeva was his name ;
he served in the ranks before the fierce tribes of the
Rhone were heard of;^ there he got promotion by
shedding much of his blood and carried the Roman
vine-staff in the long line of centurions. Ready for
any wickedness, he knew not that valour in civil war
is a heinous crime. When he saw his comrades'
drop their arms and seek safety in flight, *' Whither,"
he cried, " has fear driven you — disloyal fear that no
soldier of Caesar's has ever felt ? Do you turn your
backs on death ? Are you not ashamed that you are
not added to the heap of gallant dead, and that you are
missing among the corpses ? If duty be disregarded,
will not rage at least make you stand your ground,
ye soldiers ? The enemy has chosen us out of all
the army to sally forth through our ranks. This
day shall cost Magnus not a little blood. I should

315

M. ANNAEUS LIJCANUS

Caesaris in voltu : testem hunc fortuna negavit :
Pompeio laudante cadam. Confringite tela 160

Pectoris inpulsu iugulisque retundite ferrum.
lam longinqiia petit pulvis soiiitusque ruinae,
Securasque fragor concussit Caesaris aures.
Vineimus, o socii : veniet, qui vindicet arces,
Dum morimur." Movit tantum vox ilia furorem, 165
Quantum non primo succendunt classica cantu,
Mirantesque virum atque avidi spectare secuntur
Scituri iuveneSj numero deprensa locoque
An plus quam mortem virtus daret. Ille ruenti
Aggere consistit, primumque cadavera plenis 170

Turribus evolvit subeuntesque obruit hostes
Corporibus ; totaeque viro dant tela ruinae,
Roboraque et moles hosti seque ipse minatur.
Nunc sude, nunc duro contraria pectora conto
Detrudit muris, et valli summa tenentes 175

Amputat ense manus ; caput obterit ossaque saxo
Ac male defensum fragili conpage cerebrum
Dissipat ; alterius flamma crinesque genasque
Succendit ; strident oculis ardentibus ignes.

Ut primum cumulo crescente cadavera murum 180
Admovere solo, non segnior extulit ilium
Saltus et in medias iecit super arma catervas,
Quam per summa rapit celerem venabula pardum.
Tunc densos inter cuneos conpressus et omni
Vallatus bello vincit, quem respicit, hostem. 185

* I.e. victory. ^ The skull.

* He is now surrounded by enemiea.

3t6

BOOK VI

die happier with Caesar watching; as chance has
denied me his presence, Pompey shall praise me as I
fall. Dash your breasts against their weapons till
you break them ; blunt the edge of their steel with
your life-blood. Already the dust and noise of
destruction are rolling far away, and the ear of
Caesar, fearing no danger, has been smitten by the
crashing sound. We are conquerors, my comrades :
while we are dying, he will come to assert his right
to the stronghold." His words roused greater fury
than the war-note kindles with its first blast :
marvelling at Scaeva and eager to watch him, the
soldiers follow, to find out whether valour, out-
numbered and entrapped, could give them aught
more than death. ^ Taking his stand on the tottering
mound, Scaeva first rolled out the corpses that filled the
towers, and buried the assailants under dead bodies.
All the falling fabric supplies him with weapons : he
threatens the foe with wooden beams, blocks of
stone, and his own body. Now with stakes, now
with tough poles, he dislodges from the wall the
breasts of the adversaries ; his sword cuts off the
hands that clutch the battlements ; with a stone he
crushes one man's head and skull, scattering the
brains ill protected by their brittle covering : ^ he
sets fire to the hair and beard of another, and
the flames crackle as the eyes burn.

The heap of dead rose till it made the ground
level with the wall ; at once he sprang off and
hurled himself over their weapons into the centre
of the foe, swift as a leopard springs over the points
of the spears. Then wedged tight among the ranks
and encompassed by a whole army, he slays a man
whom he looks behind* to see. No longer can his

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

lamque hebes et crasso non asper sanguine mucro

Perdidit ensis opus, frangit sine volnere membra. 188

Ilium tota premit moles, ilium omnia tela :

Nulla fuit non certa manus, non lancea felix, 190

Parque novum Fortuna videt concurrere, bellnm

Atque virum. Fortis crebris sonat ictibus umbo,

Et galeae fragmenta cavae conpressa perurunt

Tempora, nee quidquam nudis vitalibus obstat

lam praeter stantes in summis ossibus hastas. 196

Quid nunc, vaesani, iaculis levibusve sagittis
Perditis haesuros numquam vitalibus ictus ?
Hunc aut tortilibus vibrata falarica nervis
Obruat aut vasti muralia pondera saxi ;
Hunc aries ferro ballistaque limine portae 200

Promoveat. Stat non fragilis pro Caesare murus
Pompeiumque tenet. lam pectora non tegit ariiiis,
Ac veritus credi clipeo laevaque vacasse
Aut culpa vixisse sua, tot volnera belli
Solus obit densamque ferens in pectore silvam 206

lam gradibus fessis, in quem cadat, eligit hostem.
Sic Libycus densis elephans oppressus ab armis
Omne repercussum squalenti missile tergo
Frangit et haerentes mota cute discutit hastas ;
Viscera tuta latent penitus, citraque cruorem 210

Confixae stant tela ferae : tot facta sagittis.
Tot iaculis, unam non explent volnera mortem.
Dictaea procul ecce manu Gortynis harundo
Tenditur in Scaevam, quae voto certior omni 216

1 Cretan: Gortyn was a city of Crete.

318

BOOK VI

sword-point do the duty of a sword : dulled and
blunted by coagulated blood, it bruises but cannot
wound. AH the host and all the weapons make him
their sole object; no hand missed its aim, no lance
failed of its mark; and Fortune sees a new pair
meet in combat — a man against an army. The stout
boss of his shield rings with repeated blows; his
hollow helmet, battered to pieces, galls the forehead
which it covers; and nothing any longer protects
his exposed vitals except the spears which stick fast
when they reach his bones.

Fools ! why waste your shots of light javelins and
arrows? They can never reach the seat of life. To
crush him, you must use either a missile sped by
twisted cords, or the wall-battering weight of a
huge boulder; to drive him from the threshold of
the gate, an iron battering-ram and a catapult are
needed. He stands fast, a stone wall in defence of
Caesar, and keeps Pompey at bay. He ceases to
guard his breast with his armour ; and fearing to
have it thought that his left hand and shield are
idle, or that he is to blame for surviving, he meets
single-handed all the wounds of war and carries in
his breast a thick forest of spears, and chooses, with
gait grown weary, an enemy to crush in his fall. So
the African elephant, when attacked by a throng of
assailants, breaks all their missiles rebounding from
his horny hide, and twitches his skin to dislodge the
spears sticking in his body ; his vital parts are safe
and hidden far below, and the weapons that pierce
him and stick fast draw no blood from the animal ;
the wounds of countless arrows and countless javelins
are too few to end one life. But see ! a Gortynian ^
shaft, aimed from a distance at Scaeva by a Cretan

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

In caput atque oculi laevom descendit in orbera.

Ille moras ferri nervorum et vincula rumpit

Adfixam vellens oculo pendente sagittam

Intrepidus, telumque suo cum lumine calcat.

Pannonis baud aliter post ictum saevior ursa, 220

Cum iacuhim parva Libys ammentavit habena,

Se rotat in volnus telumque irata receptum

Inpetit et secum fugientem circumit hastam.

Perdiderat voltum rabies, stetit imbre cruento

Informis facies. Laetus fragor aethera pulsat 225

Victorum ; maiora viris e sanguine parvo

Gaudia non faceret conspectum in Caesare volnus.

Ille tegens alta suppressum mente furorem

Mitis et a voltu penitus virtute remota,

" Parcite," ait "cives ; procul hinc avertite ferrum. 2S0

Conlatura meae nil sunt iam volnera morti :

Non eget ingestis sed volsis pectore telis.

Tollite et in Magni viventem ponite castris ;

Hoc vestro praestate duci ; sit Scaeva relicti

Caesaris exemplum potius quam mortis honestae." 235

Credidit infelix simulatis vocibus Aulus

Nee vidit recto gladium mucrone tenentem,

Membraque captivi pariter laturus et arma

Fulmineum mediis excepit faucibus ensem.

Incaluit virtus, atque una caede refectus 240

" Solvat " ait "poenas, Scaevam quicumque subactum

1 A scene in the Roman amphitheatre is described here.
* Aulus is a fictitious person, but Scaeva is historical, though
Lucan absurdly exaggerates his exploits.

320

BOOK VI

archer, lights on his head and pierces tlie ball of his
left eye — a surer shot than any archer could pray for.
Together with the steel that hampers him, Scaeva
breaks off the ligaments of the muscles ; boldly he
pulls out the clinging arrow with the eye hanging
to it, and treads upon arrow and eye together.
Even so, when the Libyan ^ has sped his javelin
straight by means of a little thong, the Pannonian
bear, infuriated by the wound, whirls round towards
the injured part ; in her rage she attacks the weapon
that has struck her, and pursues in a circle the spear
that flies along with her. Mad rage had destroyed
his features; his mutilated face was one mass of
streaming gore. A shout from his conquerors made
the welkin ring ; a wound seen upon Caesar's self
would not have delighted them more, by reason of a
little blood. Then Scaeva suppressed his rage and
hid it deep in his heart; banishing martial ardour
far from his features, he said with an air of mild-
ness : " S{)are me, fellow-citizens ; take far away
your steel. Wounds can no longer do aught to
kill me ; what is needed is not to hurl fresh weapons
but to pluck forth from my breast what stick there
already. Take me up and place me in the camp of
Magnus before I die ; do this service for your
leader; let me set an example of desertion from
Caesar, and not of glorious death." Ill-fated Aulus ^
was taken in by this guileful speech ; he saw not
that Scaeva was holding his sword with point ready
to thrust; he was in act to lift the captive's body
and his weapons together, when the sword, swift as
lightning, struck him full in the throat. Scaeva's
ardour rose : the slaughter of a foe was the sole
remedy for his plight : " if any believed that Scaeva

^21

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Speravit ; pacem gladio si quaerit ab isto

Magnus, adorato summittat Caesare signa.

An similem vestri segnemque ad fata putatis ?

Pompei vobis minor est causaeque senatus 245

Quam mihi mortis amor." Simul haec effatur, et altus

Caesareas pulvis testatur adesse cohortes.

Dedecus hie belli Magno crimenque remisit,

Ne solum totae fugerent te, Scaeva, catervae.

Subducto qui Marte ruis ; nam sanguine fuso 260

Vires pugna dabat. Labentem turba suorum

Excipit atque umeris defectum inponere gaudet;

Ac velut inclusum perfosso in pectore numen

Et vivam magnae speciem Virtutis adorant.

Telaque confixis certant evellere merabris 255

Exornantque deos ac nudum pectore Martem

Armis, Scaeva, tuis : felix hoc nomine famae.

Si tibi durus Hiber aut si tibi terga dedisset

Cantaber exiguis aut longis Teutonus armis.

Non tu bellorum spoliis ornare Tonantis 260

Templa potes, non tu laetis ululare triumphis.

Infelix, quanta dominum virtute parasti !

Nee magis hac Magnus castrorum parte repulsus
Intra claustra piger dilato Marte quievit,
Quam mare lassatur, cum se tollentibus Euris 265

Frangentem fluctus scopulum ferit aut latus alti
Montis adest seramque sibi parat unda ruinam.

* Mars was commonly represented as carrying spear and
shield but without clothing.

* armis seems to mean ' defensive armour.*

322

BOOK VI

was conquered, let him pay the penalty," he cried ;
"if Magnus wants peace from my sword, first let
him bow his head and sink his standards before
Caesar. Think you that I am like yourselves and
unwilling to die? Death is dearer to me than
Pompey and the Senate's cause are to you." Even
as he spoke these words, a pillar of dust showed that
cohorts of Caesar's were near ; and it saved Magnus
from shameful defeat and from the reproach of having
his whole force routed by Scaeva singlehanded.
When the enemy withdrew, Scaeva collapsed ; for
his blood was all spent, and only fighting gave him
strength. Friends, crowding round, caught him as
he fell and joyfully raised his fainting body on their
shoulders ; they worshipped the deity that seemed
to dwell in that mutilated breast, and the living
semblance of the great goddess. Valour. They vie
with one another in plucking the weapons forth
from his pierced limbs, and they use his armour to
deck the statues of the gods and of Mars with
naked breast.^ Happy had he been in this title
to fame, had he routed hardy Iberians or Cantabrians
with their targets or Teutons with their long shields.^
But Scaeva can never deck the Thunderer's temple
with his trophies nor shout for joy in the triumph.
Unhappy wretch, how bravely you fought that a
tyrant might rule over you!

But though he was beaten back at this point of
the lines, Magnus did not postpone war or stay idle
within his enclosure, any more than the sea grows
weary, when it is driven by rising winds against
a cliff that breaks the tide, or when its waves gnaw
the side of a high mountain and so prepare an
avalanche for themselves in time to come. He turned

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Hinc vicina petens placido castella profundo
Incursu gemini Martis rapit, armaque late
Spargit et efFuso laxat tentoria campo,
Mutandaeque iuvat permissa licentia terrae.
Sic pleno Padus ore tumens super aggere tutas
Excurrit ripas et totos concutit agros ;
Succubuit si qua tellus cumuloque furentem
Undarum non passa ruit, turn fl amine toto
Transit et ignotos operit sibi gurgite campos:
Illos terra fugit dominos, his rura colonis
Accedunt donante Pado. Vix proelia Caesar
Senserat, elatus specula quae prodidit ignis :
Invenit inpulsos presso iam pulvere muros,
Frigidaque_, ut veteris, deprendit signa ruinae.
Accendit pax ipsa loci, movitque furorem
Pompeiana quies et victo Caesare somnus.
Ire vel in clades properat, dum gaudia turbet.
Torquato ruit inde minax, qui Caesaris arma
Segnius haud vidit, quam malo nauta tremente
Omnia subducit Circaeae vela procellae ;
Agminaque interius muro breviore recepit,
Densius ut parva disponeret arma corona.
Transierat primi Caesar munimina valli.
Cum super ie totis immisit collibus arma
Effuditque acies obsaeptum Magnus in hostem.
Non sic Hennaeis habitans in vallibus horret
Enceladum spirante Noto, cum tota cavernas

324

BOOK VI

his arms against the forts that lay near the calm sea,
attacking them on both elements at once ; he scat-
tered his forces far and wide, enlarging his bivouac
on the broad plain, and taking advantage of the
opportunity to shift his ground. Thus the river
Po, swollen with brimming estuary, overflows its
banks though defended by dykes, and oversets whole
districts; if the earth anywhere gives way and
collapses, unable to withstand the stream raging
with its crest of waters, the whole river passes over
and drowns plains which it never knew before ; some
owners their land deserts, while others gain new
acres by the river's gift. Caesar had hardly been
aware of the fighting ; the news of it was conveyed
to him by a fire-signal from a lofty tower. He
found the walls overthrown and the dust already
laid ; the signs of destruction that met him were
cold, as if it had happened long ago. His rage was
kindled and stirred by the very peacefulness of the
scene, by the fact that the Pompeians were idle and
took their rest after defeating Caesar ! He rushed
on even into disaster, provided he could disturb their
rejoicing. He flew on to threaten Torquatus ; but
Torquatus bestirred himself at sight of Caesar's
troops, as briskly as the sailor furls every sail on
his quivering mast before the gale that blows off
Circeii ; so Torquatus led back his men behind an
inner wall, that he might marshal them in closer
ranks and a narrower ring. Caesar had already
passed the defences of his outmost palisade, when
Magnus launched his army against him from all the
heights and poured out his forces upon a foe en-
trapped. When the South wind blows and Etna
discharges all her caverns and runs as a river of fire

325

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Egerit et torrens in campos defluit Aetna, 295

Caesaris ut miles glomerato pulvere victus

Ante aciem caeci trepidus sub nube timoris

Hostibus occurrit fugiens inque ipsa pavendo

Fata ruit. Totus mitti civilibus armis

Usque vel in pacem potuit cruor : ipse furentes 300

Dux tenuit gladios. Felix ac libera regum,

Roma, fores iurisque tui, vicisset in illo

Si tibi Sulla loco. Dolet heu semperque dolebit,

Quod scelerum, Caesar, prodest tibi summa tuorum.

Cum genero pugnasse pio. Pro tristia fata ! 305

Non Uticae Libye clades, Hispania Mundae

Flesset et infando pollutus sanguine Nilus

Nobilius Phario gestasset rege cadaver.

Nee luba Marmaricas nudus pressisset harenas

Poenorumque umbras placasset sanguine fuso 310

Scipio, nee sancto caruisset vita Catone.

Ultimus esse dies potuit tibi, Roma, malorum,

Exire e mediis potuit Pharsalia fatis.

Deserit averso possessam numine sedem
Caesar et Emathias lacero petit agmine terras. 316

Arma secuturum soceri, quacumque fugasset,
Temptavere suo comites devertere Magnum
Hortatu, patrias sedes atque hoste carentem
Ausoniam peteret. " Numquam me Caesaris," inquit
" Exemplo reddam patriae, numquamque videbit 320
Me nisi dimisso redeuntem milite Roma.

^ See n. to 1. 92. ^ The corpse of Pompey.

^ Metellus Scipio, Pompey's present father-in-law: he wasi
descended from the conqueror of Carthage.

326

BOOK VI

over the plains, the dwellers in the vale of Henna
dread Enceladus ; ^ but direr dread was felt then by
Caesar's soldiers, conquered before the battle by the
rolling dust, and quaking under a cloud of blind
terror ; flight brings them face to face with the foe,
and they rush straight on death by retreating. Civil
war might then have shed its last drop of blood, and
peace might even have followed ; but Pompey him-
self kept back his furious soldiers. Rome might
have been saved, free from tyrants and mistress of
her own actions, if a Sulla had won that victory for
her. Grievous alas ! is it, and ever will be, that
Caesar profited by his worst crime — his fighting against
a kinsman who had scruples. Out upon cruel destiny !
Libya and Spain would not have lamented the dis-
asters at Utica and Munda; the Nile, defiled by
horrid bloodshed, would not have borne a corpse^
nobler than the King of Egypt ; the naked body of
Juba would never have fallen on African sands ;
Scipio ^ would not have bled to appease the Cartha-
ginian dead, nor would the land of the living have
lost the stainless Cato — that day might have ended
Rome's agony, and Pharsalia might have been blotted
out from the central scroll of destiny.

Caesar abandoned a position he had occupied against
the will of Heaven, and made for the land of Thessaly
with his battered forces. Magnus intended to pursue
Caesar's army along the line of their flight, whatever
it might be ; and when his officers tried to turn him
from his purpose and urged him to return to his
native land of Italy, now that no foe was there,
** Never," he replied, "shall I go back to my country
in Caesar's fashion ; never shall Rome see me return
before I have disbanded my soldiers. When the

327

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Hesperiam potui motu surgente tenere.

Si vellem patriis aciem committere templis

Ac medio pugnare foro. Dum bella relegem,

Extremum Scythici transcendam frigoris orbem 325

Ardentesque plagas. Victor tibi, Roma, quietem

Eripiam, qui, ne premerent te proelia, fugi ?

A potius, ne quid bello patiaris in isto,

Te Caesar putet esse suam." Sic fatus in ortus

Ptioebeos condixit iter, terraeque secutus 330

Devia, qua vastos aperit Candavia saltus,

Contigit Emathiam, bello quam fata parabant.

Thessaliam, qua parte diem brumalibus horis
Attollit Titan, rupes Ossaea coercet ;
Cum per summa poli Phoebum trahit altior aestas, 335
Pelion opponit radiis nascentibus umbras ;
At medios ignes caeli rapidique Leonis
Solstitiale caput nemorosus summovet Othrys.
Excipit adversos Zephyros et lapyga Pindus
Et maturato praecidit vespere lucem ; 340

Nee metuens imi Borean habitator Olympi
Lucentem totis ignorat noctibus Arcton.
Hos inter montes, media qui valle premuntur,
Perpetuis quondam latuere paludibus agri,
Flumina dum campi retinent nee pervia Tempe 345

Dant aditus pelagi, stagnumque inplentibus unum
Crescere cursus erat. Postquam discessit Olympo
Herculea gravis Ossa manu subitaeque ruinam
Sensit aquae Nereus, melius mansura sub undis
Emathis aequorei regnum Piiarsalos Achillis 360

^ Lucan reverses the true position of these mountains : Ossa
is on the N.E. of Thessaly, Pelion on the S.E.

* Thetis, the mother of Achilles, was a sea goddess.

328

BOOK VI

troubles began, I might have held Italy, had I been
willing to join battle in the Roman temples and
fight in the centre of the Forum. To keep war far
away, I would go beyond the uttermost region of
Scythian cold, beyond the torrid zone. Shall I, who
fled from Rome to save her from war's horrors, rob
her of peace now that I am victorious? Nay, to
spare her from suffering in this contest, rather let
Caesar reckon her as his own." Thus Pompey spoke,
and gave orders for marching eastwards ; and follow-
ing a devious route, where Candavia opens out its
huge defiles, he reached Thessaly — the land which
destiny was preparing for the war,

Thessaly is bounded by the peak of Ossa in the
quarter where the sun rises in winter; and when
advancing summer makes the sun move through the
zenith, Pelion confronts the rising beams with its
shade.^ But wooded Othrys repels the southern
fires of the sky and the head of the parching Lion
at midsummer; and Pindus faces and meets the
West and North-west winds, and shortens day by
hastening on evening ; the dweller at the foot of
Olympus never dreads the North wind, and knows
nothing of the Bear, though it shine all night. The
land which lies low in the depression between these
mountains was once covered over with continuous
swamps ; for tlie plains detained the rivers, nor did
the outlet of Tempe suffer them to reach the sea ;
they filled a single basin, and their only way of
running was to rise. But when the weight of Ossa
was severed from Olympus by the hand of Hercules,
and the sea first felt a sudden avalanche of waters,
then Thessalian Pharsalos, the realm of sea-bom ^
Achilles, rose above the surface — better had it re-

329

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Eminet et, prima Rhoeteia litora pinu

Quae tetigit, Phylace Pteleosque et Dorion ira

Flebile Pieridum ; Trachin pretioque nefandae

Lampados Herculeis fortis Meliboea pharetris

Atque olim Larisa potens ; ubi nobile quondam 355

Nunc super Argos arant, veteres ubi fabula Thebas

Monstrat Echionias, ubi quondam Pentheos exul

Colla caputque ferens supremo tradidit igni

Questa, quod hoc solum nato rapuisset. Agave.

Ergo abrupta palus multos discessit in amnes. 360

Purus in occasus, parvi sed gurgitis, Aeas

lonio fluit inde mari, nee fortior undis

Labitur avectae pater Isidis, et tuus, Oeneu,

Paene gener crassis oblimat Echinadas undis,

Et Meleagream maculatus sanguine Nessi 365

Euhenos Calydona secat. Ferit amne citato

Maliacas Spercheos aquas, et flumine puro

Inrigat Amphrysos famulantis pascua Phoebi. 368

Accipit Asopos cursus Phoenixque Melasque, 374

Quique nee umentes nebulas nee rore madentem 369

Aera nee tenues ventos suspirat Anauros,

Et quisquis pelago per se non cognitus amnis

Peneo donavit aquas : it gurgite rapto

Apidanos numquamque celer, nisi mixtus, Enipeus ; 373

Solus, in alterius nomen cum venerit undae, 376

Defendit Titaresos aquas lapsusque superne

374 u-as transposed by ffousman.

* The birthplace of Thamyris whom the Muses blinded.
' Philoctetes, a native of Meliboea, received the arrows of

Hercules as a reward for kindling the hero's funeral pyre.
3 Distinct from the more famous Argos in Peloponnesus.

* The Inachus and the Achelous are the two rivers thus
described.

BOOK VI

mained drowned for ever ! And other cities rose :
Phylace, whose bark was first to land on the shores
of Troy ; Pteleos, and Dorion ^ that laments the wrath
of the Muses ; Trachis, and Meliboea, strong with
the quiver of Hercules that paid for the funeral
torch ; ^ Larisa, powerful in ancient times ; and the
place where the plough now passes over what once
was famous Argos,^ where legend points out the
older Thebes of Echion, and where Agave, then an
exile, once bore the head and neck of Pentheus and
gave them up to the funeral fire, lamenting that she
had carried off no more from her son's body.— In this
way the swamp was parted and broken up into
many rivers. From there the Aeas, clear but of
little volume, flows westward to the Ionian sea ;
with no stronger stream glides the father of ravished
Isis ; and he who came near to marrying the daughter
of Oeneus and silts up with his muddy waves tlie
Echinad islands ; * and there the Euhenos, stained
with the blood of Nessus, runs through Meleager's
Calydon. There the swift stream of the Spercheos
strikes the waves of the Maliac gulf, and the pure
waters of the Amphrysos irrigate the pastures where
Apollo herded cattle. Here the Asopos starts its
course, the Phoenix, and the Black river ; and the
Anauros, which breathes out neither moist vapours
nor dew-drenched air nor light breezes. Then there
are the rivers which the sea knows not in their own
shape, and which give their waters to the Peneus :
the Apidanus, robbed of its stream ; the Enipeus,
which never hastens until it mingles with the
Peneus ; and the Titaresos, which alone, after taking
the name of the other river, guards its waters :
gliding on the surface, it treats the flood of the

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Gurgite Penei pro siccis utitiir arvis.

Hunc fama est Stygiis manare paludibus amnern

Et capitis memorem fluvii contagia vilis

Nolle pati superumque sibi servare timorem. 380

Ut primum emissis patuerunt amnibus arva,
Pinguis Bebrycio discessit vomere sulcus ;
Mox Lelegum dextra pressum descendit aratnim ;
Aeolidae Dolopesque solum fregere coloni
Et Magnates eqiiis, Minyae gens cognita remis. 385

Illic semiferos Ixionidas Centauros
Feta Peletlironiis nubes effudit in antris :
Aspera te Plioloes frangentem, Monyche, saxa,
Teque sub Oetaeo torquentem vertice volsas,
Rhoece ferox, quas vix Boreas inverteret, ornos, 390
Hospes et Alcidae magni Phole, teque, per amnem
Inprobe Lernaeas vector passure sagittas,
Teque, senex Chiron, gelido qui sidere fulgens
Inpetis Haemonio maiorem Scorpion arcu.

Hac tellure feri micuerunt semina Martis. 395

Primus ab aequorea percussis cuspide saxis
Thessalicus sonipes, bellis feralibus omen,
Exiluit, primus chalybem frenosque momordit
Spumavitque novis Lapithae domitoris habenis.
Prima fretum scindens Pagasaeo litore pinus 400

Terrenum ignotas hominem })roiecit in undas.
Primus Thessalicae rector telluris lonos
In formara calidae percussit pondera massae,
Fudit et argentum flammis aurumque moneta

^ The gods swore by the water of the Styx and considered
the Oath as binding : cf. I. 749.

• Sagittarius, the 11th sign of the Zodiac, is represented as
a Centaur ; Scorpio is the 10th sign.

3 The Argo.

BOOK VI

Pencils as if it were dry land. For legend tells that
this river flows from the Stygian pool, and, mindful
of its source, spurns admixture with a common
stream, and retains the awe that the gods feel
for it.i

As soon as the rivers flowed off and the land was
revealed, the fertile furrows were cleft by the
plough-shares of the Bebryces ; and next the hands
of the Leleges drove the plough deep. The soil
was broken by Aeolidae and Dolopians, by Magne-
sians famous for horses and Minyae famous for ships.
There the cloud, pregnant by Ixion, brought forth
in the caves of Pelethronium the Centaurs, half men
and half beasts — Monychus who broke with his hoofs
the hard rocks of Pholoe ; bold Rhoecus who up-
rooted ash-trees for missiles beneath Oeta's crest,
ash-trees that the North wind could hardly overset ;
Pholus, who entertained great Alcides ; presump-
tuous Nessus,who ferried passengers across the river
and was doomed to feel the arrows of Hercules ; and
old Chiron, whose star shines in the winter sky and
aims his Thessalian bow at the Scorpion,^ larger than
himself.

In this land the seeds of cruel war first sprang to
Ufe. From her rocks, smitten by the trident of the
sea, leaped forth first the Thessalian charger, to
portend dreadful warfare ; here he first champed the
steel bit, and the bridle of his Lapith tamer, unfelt
before, brought the foam to his mouth. The shore
of Pagasae launched the ship ^ that first cleft the
sea and flung forth man, a creature of the land, upon
the untried waves. lonos, a king of Thessaly, was
the first to hammer into shape ingots of molten
metal; he melted silver in the fire, and broke up

333

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Fregit et inmensis coxit fornacibus aera. 405

Illic, quod populos scelerata inpegit in arma,
Divitias numerare datum est. Hinc maxima serpens
Descendit Python Cirrhaeaque fluxit in arva,
Unde et Thessalicae veniunt ad Pythia laurus.
Inpius hinc prolem superis inmisit Aloeus, 410

Inseruit celsis prope se cum Pelion astris
Sideribusque vias incurrens abstulit Ossa.
Hac ubi damnata fatis tellure locarunt
Castra duces, cunctos belli praesaga futuri
Mens agitat, sumraique gravem discriminis horam 415
Adventare palam est, propius iam fata moveri.
Degeneres trepidant animi peioraque versant ;
Ad dubios pauci praesumpto robore casus
Spemque metumque ferunt. Turbae sed mixtus inerti
Sextus erat, Magno proles indigna parente, 420

Cui ^ mox Scyllaeis exul grassatus in undis
Polluit aequoreos Siculus pirata triumphos.
Qui stimulante metu fati praenoscere cursus,
Inpatiensque morae venturisque omnibus aeger,
Non tripodas Deli, non Pythia consulit antra, 425

Nee quaesisse libet, primis quid frugibus altrix
Aere lovis Dodona sonet, quis noscere fibra
Fata queat, quis prodat aves, quis fulgura caeli
Servet et Assyria scrutetur sidera cura,
Aut si quid tacitum sed fas erat. Ille supernis 430

* Cui Heinsius : Qui MS8.

1 I.e. Delphi.

•. The Giants piled the mountains on one another in order to
^torm the heavens.

' By suppressing the pirates.

* Dodona, the seat of an oracle, was famous for its oaks ; and
acorns took the place of corn in primitive times.

334

BOOK VI

gold and stamped it, and smelted copper in vast
furnaces ; there it became possible to count wealthy
and this drove mankind into the wickedness of war.
From Thessaly the Python, hugest of serpents, came
down and glided on to the land of Cirrha ; ^ for
which reason also the laurels for the Pythian games
are brought from Thessaly. From here the rebel
Aloeus launched his sons against Heaven, when
Pelion raised its head almost to the height of the
stars, and Ossa, encroaching upon the planets,
stopped their courses.^

When the rivals had pitched their camps in this
accursed country, every heart was disturbed by
presentiments of war ; it was plain that the stern
hour of final decision was at hand, and that doom
was drawing nearer and nearer. Base minds quaked
and dwelt upon the worst ; a few, fortifying them-
selves beforehand for the uncertain issue, felt hope
as well as fear. Among the helpless throng was
Sextus, the unworthy son of Magnus, he who later
as an exile infested the waters of Scylla, and stained
by piracy in Sicily the glory his father had gained
from the sea.^ Fear urged him on to learn before-
hand the course of destiny ; he was impatient of
delay and distracted by all that was to come. But
he sought not the tripods of Delos nor the caverns
of Delphi: he cared not to inquire what sound
Dodona makes with the cauldron of Jupiter — Dodona
that grew the food of primitive man ; * he asked not
who could read the future by means of entrails, or
interpret birds, or watch the lightnings of heaven
and investigate the stars with Assyrian lore — he
sought no knowledge which, though secret, is per-
missible. To him were known the mysteries of

335

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Detestanda deis saevorum arcana magorum

Noverat et tristes sacris feralibus aras,

Umbrarum Ditisque fidem, miseroque liquebat

Scire parum superos. Vanum saevumque furorem

Adiuvat ipse locus vicinaque nioenia castris 435

Haemonidum, ficti quas nulla licentia monstri

Transierit, quarum, quidquid non creditur, ars est.

Thessala quin etiam tell us herbasque nocentes

Rupibus ingenuit sensiiraque saxa canentes

Arcanum ferale magos. Ibi plurima surgunt 440

Vim factura deis, et terris hospita Colchis

Legit in Haemoniis quas non advexerat herbas.

Inpia tot populis, tot surdas gentibus aures

Caelicolum dirae convertunt carmina gentis.

Una per aetherios exit vox ilia recessus 445

Verbaque ad invitum perfert cogentia numen,

Quod non cura poli caelique volubilis umquam

Avocat. Infandum tetigit cum sidera murmur,

Turn, Babylon Persea licet secretaque Memphis

Omne vetustorum solvat penetrale magorum, 450

Abducet superos alienis Thessalis aris.

Carmine Thessalidum dura in praecordia fliixit

Non fatis adductus amor, flammisque severi

Inlicitis arsere senes. Nee noxia tantum

Pocula proficiunt aut cum turgentia suco 465

Frontis amaturae subducunt pignora fetae :

Mens hausti nulla sanie polluta veneni,

Excantata perit. Quos non concordia mixti

1 Medea.

2 An excrescence upon the forehead of a new-born foal, which
the mare ate and which made her love the foal ; it was stolen
to be used for love-philtres.

BOOK VI

cruel witchcraft which the gods above abominate, and
grim altars with funeral rites ; he knew the veracity
of Pluto and the shades below ; and the wretch was
convinced that the gods of heaven are ignorant.
The place itself fed his false and cruel delusion : the
camp was near the habitation of those Thessalian i^
witches, whom no boldness of imaginary horror can
outdo, and who practise all that is deemed im-
possible. Moreover, the land produces baneful herbs
on her heights, and her rocks yield to the deadly
spell chanted by her wizards. Full many a plant
grows there that can put constraint upon the gods ;
and the Colchian stranger^ gathered on Thessalian
soil herbs she had not brought with her across the
sea. The profane spells of that ill-omened race
compel the attention of the gods, who turn a deaf
ear to so many peoples and nations. Their voice
alone speeds through the remote parts of heaven,
and conveys the words that bind the reluctant deity,
whom no care for the sky and revolving firmament
ever distracts from listening. When her hideous v
hum has reached the stars, then, even though Persian
Babylon and weird Memphis unlock every shrine of
their ancient magicians, the Thessalian witch will
call the gods away from all altars but her own. By
their spells love steals into insensible hearts against
the decree of destiny, and austere old age burns with
forbidden passion. And not only their baleful
f)h litres have power, or their act when they steal
from the mare the sign ^ that she will love her foal
— the sign that grows, swollen with juice, upon its
forehead ; but even when defiled by no horrid
draught of poison, men's minds are destroyed by
incantations. Those whom no bond of wedlock and

337

VOL. I. M

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

AUigat ulla tori blandaeque potentia formae,

Traxerunt torti magica vertigine fili. 460

Cessavere vices rerum, dilataque longa

Haesit nocte dies ; legi non paruit aether,

Torpuit et praeceps audito carmine mundus,

Axibus et rapidis inpulsos luppiter urguens

Miratur non ire polos. Nunc omnia conplent 465

Imbribus et calido praeducunt nubila Phoebo,

Et tonat ignaro caelum love ; vocibus isdem

Umentes late nebulas nimbosque solutis

Excussere comis. Ventis cessantibus aequor

Intumuit ; rursus vetitum sentire procellas 470

Conticuit turbante Noto, puppemque ferentes

In ventum tumuere sinus. De rupe pependit

Abscisa fixus torrens, amnisque cucurrit,

Non qua pronus erat. Nilum non extulit aestas,

Maeander derexit aquas, Rhodanumque morantem 476

Praecipitavit Arar. Summisso vertice montes

Explicuere iugum ; nubes suspexit Olympus,

Solibus et nullis Scythicae, cum bruma rigeret,

Dimaduere nives. Inpulsam sidere Tethyn

Reppulit Haemonium defenso litore carmen. 480

Terra quoque inmoti concussit ponderis axes,

Et medium vergens titubavit nisus in orbem.

Tantae molis onus percussum voce recessit

Perspectumque dedit circumlabentis Olympi.

Omne potens animal leti genitumque nocere 485

Et pavet Haemonias et mortibus instruit artes.

^ A tunnel is driven through the earth by witchcraft, and
shows the stars revolving beneath it.

BOOK VI

no attraction of alluring beauty can bind together
are compelled by the mystic twirling of the twisted
thread. The natural changes cease to operate :
daylight lingers and is delayed by the length of
night ; the ether is disobedient to its law ; listening
to their spells, the swift firmament is arrested, and
Jupiter, while driving on the heavens that speed on
their swift axles, marvels that they stand still. At
one time they drench the world with rain and veil
the hot sun with clouds, and the heavens thunder
while Jupiter knows nothing of it ; and also by spells
they disperse the canopy of watery vapour and the
dishevelled tresses of the storm-clouds. Though the
winds are still, the sea rises high ; or again it is for-
bidden to be affected by storms, and is silent while
the South wind blusters, and the sails that speed
a vessel belly out against the breeze. The water-
fall is arrested on the steep face of the cliff; and the
running river forsakes its downward channel. The
Nile fails to rise in summer ; the Maeander straightens
its course ; the Arar hurries on the sluggish Rhone ;
the mountains lower their tops and level their
ridges ; Mount Olympus sees the clouds above it ;
and the Scythian snows thaw without any sun in
winter's cold. When the tide is driven on by the
moon, the spells of Thessalian witches drive it back
and defend the shore. The earth too throws the
poles of her stable mass out of gear, and the pressure
that tends to the centre of the sphere becomes
unsteady. Smitten by a spell, that mighty weight
parts asunder and reveals to sight the stars revolving
around it.^ Every creature that has power to kill
and was born to do mischief dreads the Thessalian
witches and provides their skill with the means of

339

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Has avidae tigres et nobilis ira leonum

Ore fovent blaiido ; gelidos his explicat orbes

Inque pruinoso coluber distenditur arvo ;

Viperei coeunt abrupto corpore nodi, 490

Humanoque cadit serpens adflata veneno.

Quis labor hie superis cantus herbasque sequendi

Spernendique timor ? cuius commercia pacti

Obstrictos habuere deos ? parere necesse est

An iuvat ? ignota tantum pietate merentur, 495

An tacitis valuere minis ? hoc iuris in omnes

Est illis superos, an habent haec carmina certum

Imperiosa deum, qui mundum cogere, quidquid

Cogitur ipse, potest ? Illis et sidera primum

Praecipiti deducta polo, Phoebeque serena 600

Non aliter diris verborum obsessa venenis

Palluit et nigris terrenisque ignibus arsit,

Quam si fraterna prohiberet imagine tell us

Insereretque suas flammis caelestibus umbras,

Et patitur tantos cantu depressa labores 606

Donee suppositas propior despumet in herbas.

Hos scelerum ritus, haec dirae crimina gentis
Effera damnarat nimiae pietatis Erictho
Inque novos ritus pollutam duxerat artem.
lUi namque nefas urbis summittere tecto 510

Aut laribus ferale caput, desertaque busta
Iricolit et tumulos expulsis obtinet umbris
Grata deis Erebi. Coetus audire silentum,
Nosse domos Stygias arcanaque Ditis operti

340

BOOK VI

death. The fierce tiger and the angry lion, king
of beasts, lick their hands and fawn upon them ; for
them the snake unfolds his chilly coils and stretches
at full length on the frosty ground ; knotted vipers
split apart and unite again ; and the serpent dies,
blasted by human poison. — Why do the gods trouble
to heed these spells and herbs, and fear to despise
them? What mutual bond puts constraint upon
them ? Must they obey, or do they take pleasure in
obedience ? Is this subservience the reward of some
piety unknown to us, or is it extorted by unuttered
threats ? Has witchcraft power over all the gods,
or are these tyrannical spells addressed to one special
deity who can inflict upon the world all the com-
pulsion that he suffers himself? — By these witches
the stars were first brought down from the swiftly-
moving sky ; and the clear moon, beset by dread
incantations, grew dim and burned with a dark and
earthy light, just as if the earth cut her off from her
brother's reflection and thrust its shadow athwart the
fires of heaven. Lowered by magic, she suffers all
that pain, until from close quarters she drops foam
upon the plants below.

These criminal rites and malpractices of an accursed
race fierce Erictho had scouted as not wicked
enough, and had turned her loathsome skill to rites
before unknown. To her it was a crime to shelter
her ill-omened head in a city or under a roof: dear
to the deities of Erebus, she inhabited deserted
tombs, and haunted graves from which the ghosts
had been driven. Neither the gods of Heaven, nor
the fact that she was still living, prevented her from
hearing the speechless converse of the dead, or from
knowing the abodes of Hell and the mysteries of

341

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Non superi, non vita vetat. Tenet ora profanae 615

Foeda situ macies, caeloque ignota sereno

Terribilis Stygio facies pallore gravatur

Inpexis onerata comis : si nimbus et atrae

Sidera subducunt nubes, tunc Thessala nudis

Egreditur bustis nocturnaque fulmina captat. 620

Semina fecundae segetis calcata perussit

Et non letiferas spirando perdidit auras.

Nee superos orat nee cantu supplice numeii

Auxiliare vocat nee fibras ilia litantes

Novit : funereas aris inponere flammas 625

Gaudet et accenso rapuit quae tura sepulchro.

Omne nefas superi prima iam voce precantis

Concedunt carmenque timent audire secundum.

Viventes animas et adhuc sua membra regentes

Infodit busto, fatis debentibus annos 630

Mors invita subit; perversa funera pompa

Rettulit a tumulis, fugere cadavera letum.

Fumantes iuvenum cineres ardentiaque ossa

E mediis rapit ilia rogis ipsamque, parentes

Quam tenuere, facem nigroque volantia fumo 635

Feralis fragmenta tori vestesque fluentes

Colligit in cineres et olentes membra favillas.

Ast, ubi servantur saxis, quibus intimus umor

Ducitur, et tracta durescunt tabe medullae

Corpora, tunc omnes avide desaevit in artus 540

Inmergitque manus oculis gaudetque gelatos

EfFodisse orbes et siccae pallida rodit

Excrementa manus. Laqueum nodosque nocentes

* He refers to a sarcophagus, which, as the name shews,
was supposed to dry up the corpse and consume it.

342

BOOK VI

subterranean Pluto. Haggard and loathly with age
is the face of the witch ; her awful countenance,
overcast with a hellish pallor and weighed down by
uncombed locks, is never seen by the clear sky ; but
if storm and black clouds take away the stars, then
she issues forth from rifled tombs and tries to catch
the nocturnal lightnings. Her tread blights the
seeds of the fertile cornfield, and her breath poisons
air that before was harmless. She addresses no
prayer to Heaven, invokes no divine aid with sup-
pliant hymn, and knows nothing of the organs of
victims offered in sacrifice ; she rejoices to lay on the
altar funeral fires and incense snatched from the
kindled pyre. At the first sound of her petition
the gods grant every honor, dreading to hear a
second spell. She buries in the grave the living
whose souls still direct their bodies : while years are
still due to them from destiny, death comes upon
them unwillingly; or she brings back the funeral
from the tomb with procession reversed, and the
dead escape from death. The smoking ashes and
burning bones of the young she snatches from the
centre of the pyre, and the very torch from the
hands of the parents ; she gathers up the pieces of
the bier, fluttering in the black smoke, and the
grave-clothes as they crumble into ashes, and the
cinders that reek of the corpse. But, when the dead
are coffined in stone,^ which drains off the internal
moisture, absorbs the corruption of the marrow, and
makes the corpse rigid, then the witch eagerly vents
her rage on all the limbs, thrusting her fingers into
the eyes, scooping out gleefully the stiffened eyeballs,
and gnawing the yellow nails on the withered hand.
She breaks with her teeth the fatal noose, and

343

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Ore suo ruinpit, pendentia corpora carpsit

Abrasitque cruces percussaque viscera nimbis 546

Volsit et incoctas admisso sole medullas.

Insertum manibus chalybem nigramque per artus

Stillantis tabi saniem virusque coactura

Sustulit, et nervo morsus retinente pependit.

Et, quodcumque iacet nuda tellure cadaver, 660

Ante feras volucresque sedet ; nee carpere membra

Volt ferro manibusque suis, morsusque luporum

Expectat siccis raptura e faucibus artus.

Nee cessant a caede manus, si sanguine vivo

Est opus, erumpat iugulo qui primus aperto, 656

Extaque funereae poscunt trepidantia mensae.

Volnere sic ventris, non qua natura vocabat,

Extrahitur partus calidis ponendus in aris ;

Et quotiens saevis opus est ac fortibus umbris.

Ipsa facit manes. Hominum morsomnis in usu est. 660

Ilia genae florem primaevo corpore volsit.

Ilia comam laeva morienti abscidit ephebo.

Saepe etiam caris cognato in funere dira

Thessalis incubuit membris atque oscula figens

Truncavitque caput conpressaque dentibus ora 665

Laxavit siccoque haerentem gutture linguam

Praemordens gelidis infudit murmura labris

Arcanumque nefas Stjgias mandavit ad umbras.

Hanc ut faraa loci Pompeio prodidit, alta
Nocte poli. Titan medium quo tempore ducit 670

344

BOOK VI

mangles the carcass that dangles on the gallows, and
scrapes the cross of the criminal ; she tears away the
rain-be.iten flesh and the bones calcined by exposure
to the sun. She purloins the nails that pierced the
hands, the clotted filth, and the black humour of
corruption that oozes over all the limbs; and when
a muscle resists her teeth, she hangs her weight
upon it. Whenever any corpse lies exposed on the
ground, she sits by it before beast or bird can come ;
but she will not mangle the limbs with the knife or
her bare hands ; she waits for the wolves to tear it,
and means to snatch the prey from their unvvetted
throats. Nor is she slow to take life, if such warm
blood is needed as gushes forth at once when the
throat is slit, and if her ghoulish feast demands still
palpitating flesh. In the same way she pierces the
pregnant womb and delivers the child by an unnatural
birth, in order to place it on the fiery altar; and
whenever she requires the service of a bold, bad
spirit, she takes life with her own hand. Every
death of man serves her turn. She tears oft' the
bloom of the face on the young man's body, and her
lett hand severs the lock of hair on the head of the
dying lad. Otten too, when a kinsman is buried,
the dreadful witch hangs over the loved body :
while kissing it, she mutilates the head and opens
the closed mouth with her teeth ; then, biting the
tip of the tongue that lies motionless in the dry
throat, she pours inarticulate sound into the cold
li})s, and sends a message of mysterious horror down
to the shades of Hell.

The rumour of the country told Pompeius of
Erictho, and he took his way through deserted fields
when night was high in heaven — at the hour when

345

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Sub nostra tellure diem, deserta per arva

Carpit iter. Fidi scelerum suetique ministri

EfFraetos circum tumulos ac busta vagati

Conspexere procul praerupta in caute sedentem.

Qua iuga devexus Pharsalica porrigit Haemus. 575

Ilia magis magicisque deis incognita verba

Temptabat carmenque novos fingebat in usus.

Namque timens, ne Mars alium vagus iret in orbem

Emathis et tellus tarn multa caede careret.

Pollutes cantu dirisque venefica sucis 680

Conspersos vetuit transmittere bella Philippos,

Tot mortes habitura suas usuraque mundi

Sanguine ; caesorum truncare cadavera regum

Sperat et Hesperiae cineres avertere gentis

Ossaque nobilium tantosque adquirere manes. 686

Hie ardor sol usque labor, quid corpore Magni

Proiecto rapiat, quos Caesaris involet artus.

Quam prior adfatur Pompei ignava propago :
" O decus Haemonidum, populis quae pandere fata
Quaeque suo ventura potes devertere cursu, 590

Te precor, ut certum liceat mihi noscere finem
Quem belli fortuna paret. Non ultima turbae
Pars ego Romanae, Magni clarissima proles,
Vel dominus rerum vel tanti funeris heres.
Mens dubiis pereulsa pavet rursusque parata est 696
Certos ferre metus : hoc casibus eripe iuris,

^ I.e. Pharsalia.
346

BOOK VI

the sun ushers in the noonday beneath our earth.
Men who were wont to act as the trusted instruments
of her wickedness went to and fro about the rifled
graves and the tombs, till they sighted her far away
sitting on a steep rock, where the Balkan slopes
down and extends its range to Pharsalia. She was
framing a spell unknown to wizards and the gods of
wizardry, and inventing an incantation for a special
purpose. She feared that the war might stray away
to some other region, and that the land of Thessaly
might miss so great a carnage ; and therefore the
witch forbade Philippi,^ defiled by her spells and
sprinkled with her noxious drugs, to allow the warfare
to change its place. Then all those dead would be
hers, and the blood of the whole world would be at
her disposal. She hopes to mutilate the corpses of
slaughtered kings, to plunder the ashes of the Roman
nation and the bones of nobles, and to master the
ghosts of the mighty. One passion only and one
anxiety she feels — what part may she snatch from
the exposed body of Magnus, and on what limbs of
Caesar may she pounce ?

The unworthy son of Pompey spoke first and
addressed her. "Famous among Thessalian women,
you who have power to reveal the future to mankind
and to turn aside the course of events, I pray you
that I may be allowed certain knowledge of the
issue which the hazard of war is preparing. Not
the meanest among Romans am I, but the renowned
offspring of Magnus, and I shall be either lord of the
world or inheritor of an awful doom. My heart quakes
and is overcome by uncertainty, but is ready on the
other hand to endure definite dangers. Take away
from calamity the power of swooping down suddenly

347

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Ne subiti caecique ruant. Vel numina torque
Vel tu parce deis et manibus exprime verura.
Elysias resera sedes ipsamque vocatam, 600

Quos petat e nobis, Mortem mihi coge fateri.
Non humilis labor est : dignum, quod quaerere cures
Vel tibi^ quo tanti praeponderet alea fati."
Inpia laetatur vulgato nomine famae
Thessalis, et contra : " Si fata minora moveres, 605

Pronum erat, o iuvenis, quos velles ** inquit " in actus.
Invites praebere deos. Conceditur arti,
Unam cum radiis presserunt sidera mortem,
Inseruisse moras ; et, quamvis fecerit omnis
Stella senem, medios herbis abrumpimus annos. 610
At, simul a prima descendit origine mundi
Causarum series, atque omnia fata laborant
Si quicquam mutare velis, unoque sub ictu
Stat genus humanum, tum — Thessala turba fatemur —
Plus Fortuna potest. Sed si praenoscere casus 616

Contentus, facilesque aditus multique patebunt
Ad verum : tellus nobis aetherque chaosque
Aequoraque et campi Rhodopaeaque saxa loquentur.
Sed pronum, cum tanta novae sit copia mortis,
Emathiis unum campis attollere corpus, 620

Ut modo defuncti tepidique cadaveris ora
Plena voce sonent nee membris sole perustis
Auribus incertum feralis strideat umbra."
Dixerat, et noctis geminatis arte tenebris

1 Lucan seems to have forgotten that there had been no
fighting as yet in Thessaly.

348

BOOK VI

and unforeseen. Either put the gods to the question,
or leave them alone and extort the truth from the
dead. Unbar the gates of Elysium, summon Death
himself, and force him to reveal to me which among
us must be his prey. It is no mean service that I
ask of you ; even in your own interest, it is worth
your pains to enquire, which way the hazard of so
great an issue inclines." Proud of her wide-spread
fame, the wicked witch thus replied : " If you sought
to alter a lesser decree of fate, it would have been
easy, young man, to force the gods to any course of
action at your desire. When the planets by their
shining bear down a single soul to death, witchcraft
has power to interpose a respite ; and, though all the
stars promise a man old age, we cut short his life
half-way by our magic herbs. But in some cases
the chain of causes comes down from the creation of
the world, and all destinies suffer if it is sought to
make a single change, and the same blow affects the
whole of mankind ; and there Fortune has more
power than all the witches of Thessaly, and we admit
it. If, however, it is enough for you to learn
calamity before it comes, the ways of approaching
the truth are many and will prove easy of access :
earth and sky and the abyss, the seas and the plains
and the cliff's of Rhodope, will find a tongue for us.
But, since there is such abundance of recent
slaughter,^ the simplest plan is to lift one dead man
from the Thessalian fields ; then the mouth of a
corpse still warm and freshly slain will speak with
substantial utterance, and no dismal ghost, whose
limbs are dried up by the sun, will gibber sounds
unintelligible to our ears."

Thus she spoke and made dark night twice as

349

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Maestum tecta caput squalenti nube pererrat 625

Corpora caesorum tumulis proiecta negatis.

Continuo fugere lupi, fugere revolsis

Unguibus inpastae volucres, dum Thessala vatem

Eligit et gelidas leto scrutata medullas

Pulmonis rigidi stantes sine volnere fibras 630

Invenit et vocem defuncto in corpore quaerit.

Fata peremptorum pendent lam multa virorum,

Quern superis revocasse velit. Si toll ere tolas

Temptasset campis acies et reddere bello,

Cessissent leges Erebi, monstroque potenti 635

Extractus Stygio populus pugnasset Averno.

Electum tandem traiecto gutture corpus

Ducit, et inserto laqueis feralibus unco

Per scopulos miserum trahitur, per saxa, cadaver

Victurum, montisque cavi, quern tristis Erictho 640

Damnarat sacris, alta sub rupe locatur.

Haud procul a Ditis caecis depressa cavernis
In praeceps subsedit humus, quam pallida pronis
Urguet silva comis et nullo vertice caelum
Suspiciens Phoebo non pervia taxus opacat. 645

Marcentes intus tenebrae pallensque sub antris
Longa nocte situs numquam nisi carmine factum
Lumen habet. Non Taenariis sic faucibus aer
Sedit iners, maestum mundi confine latentis

350

BOOK VI

dark by her magic. Then, with her gruesome head
veiled in a hideous mist, she moved here and there
among the bodies of the slain that were thrown out
and denied burial. At once the wolves took flight,
the vultures sheathed their talons and flew away
ungorged ; meanwhile the witch picks out her
prophet, prying into the inmost parts cold in death,
till she finds the substance of the stiffened lungs
unwounded and still firm, and seeking the power of
utterance in a corpse. The destiny of many victims
of battle is hanging now in the balance — which of
them will she decide to restore to the upper world ?
Had she tried to raise up the whole army on the
plain and make them fight again, the laws of Erebus
would have yielded to her, and a multitude, brought
up from Stygian Avernus by the power of the fiend,
would have taken the field. At last she chose a
corpse and drew it along with the neck noosed,
and in the dead man's noose she inserted a hook.
The hapless body was dragged over rocks and
stones, to live a second time, and was laid beneath
a high rock of the hollow mountain which cruel
Erictho had condemned to witness her rites.

There the ground fell in a sheer descent, sinking
almost to the depth of the invisible caverns of
Pluto. A dim wood with forward-bending trees
borders it, and yew-trees shade it — yew-trees that
the sun cannot penetrate, and that turn no tops
towards the sky. In the caves within dank darkness
reigns, and the colourless mould caused by un-
broken night ; the only light there is due to magic.
Even in the gorge of Taenarus the air is less dead
and stagnant ; it is the gloomy boundary between
the unseen world and ours ; and the Rulers of

3S^

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Ac nostri, quo non metuant admittere manes 650

Tartarei reges. Nam, quamvis Thessala vates

Vim facial fatis, dubium est, quod traxerit illuc

Aspiciat Stygias an quod descenderit umbras.

Discolor et vario furialis cultus amictu

Induitur, voltusque aperitur crine remoto, 666

Et coma vipereis substringitur horrida sertis.

Ut pavidos iuvenis comites ipsumque trementem

Conspicit exanimi defixum lumina voltu,

" Ponite" ait "trepida conceptos mente timores :

lam nova, lam vera reddetur vita figura, 66U

Ut quamvis pavidi possint audire loquentem.

Si vero Stygiosque lacus ripamque sonantem

Ignibus ostendam, si me praebente ^ videri

Eumenides possint villosaque colla colubris

Cerberus excutiens et vincti terga gigantes, 665

Quis timor, ignavi, metuentes cernere manes? "

Pectora tunc primum ferventi sanguine supplet
Volneribus laxata novis taboque medullas
Abluit et virus large lunare ministrat.
Hue quidquid fetu genuit natura sinistro 670

Miscetur. Non spuma canum quibus unda timori est,
Viscera non lyncis, non dirae nodus hyaenae
Defuit et cervi pastae serpente medullae,
Non puppim retinens Euro tendente rudentes
In mediis echenais aquis oculique draconum 676

Quaeque sonant feta tepefacta sub alite saxa ;

* praebente Madvig : praesente MS8.

^ The ex^vfi'is, 'ship-stopper' (Latin r^mora) was a fabulous
marine animal ; the stones in an eagle's nest are equally
fabulous.

352

BOOK VI

Tartarus would not fear to let the dead travel thus
far. For, though the Thessalian witch tyrannises
over destiny, it is doubtful whether she sees the
lost souls because she has haled them to her cave,
or because she has gone down to Hell herself. She
put on motley raiment, whose parti-coloured woof
was fit for a fiend to wear ; she threw back her hair
and revealed her face ; and she looped up her
bristling locks with festoons of vipers. When she
saw that the companions of Pompeius were afraid,
and that he himself trembled, with staring eyes and
lifeless features, "Lay aside," she said, "the fears
which your fluttering hearts have framed. A new
life shall soon be restored to him — life in its familiar
aspect, so that even those who fear can hear him
speaking. Even if I were to display the pools of
Styx and the bank that crackles with fire — if my
consent should bring before your eyes the Furies,
and Cerberus shaking his mane of snakes, and the
chained bodies of the Giants, why dread, ye
cowards, to behold the dead who fear me?"

I'hen she began by piercing the breast of the
corpse with fresh wounds, which she filled with
hot blood ; she washed the inward parts clean of
clotted gore ; she poured in lavishly the poison that
the moon supplies. With this was blended all that
Nature inauspiciously conceives and brings forth.
The froth of dogs that dread water was not wanting,
nor the inwards of a lynx, nor the hump of a foul
hyena, nor the marrow of a stag that had fed on
snakes ; the echenais ^ was there, which keeps a ship
motionless in mid-ocean, though the wind is stretch-
ing her cordH«re ; eyes of dragons were there, and
stones that rattle when warmed under a breeding

353

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Non Arabum volucer serpens innataque rubris

Aequoribus custos pretiosae vipera conchae

Aut viventls adhuc Libyci membrana cerastae

Aut cinis Eoa positi phoenicis in ara. 680

Quo postquam viles et habentes nomina pestes

Contulit, infando saturatas carmine frondes

Et, quibus os dirum nascentibus inspuit, herbas

Addidit et quidquid mundo dedit ipsa veneni.

Turn vox Lethaeos cunctis poUentior herbis 685

Excantare deos confundit murmura primum

Dissona et humanae multum discordia linguae.

Latratus habet ilia canum gemit usque luporum.

Quod trepidus bubo, quod strix nocturna queruntur.

Quod strident ululantque ferae, quod sibilat anguis ; 690

Exprimit et planctus inlisae cautibus undae

Silvarumque sonum fractaeque tonitrua nubis :

Tot rerum vox una fuit. Mox cetera cantu

Explicat Haemonio penetratque in Tartara lingua ;

" Eumenides Stygiumque nefas Poenaeque nocentum 695

Et Chaos innunieros avidum confundere mundos

Et rector terrae, quem longa in saecula torquet

Mors dilata deum ; Styx et quos nulla meretur

Thessalis Elysios ; caelum matremque perosa

Persephone nostraeque Hecates pars ultima, per quam

Manibus et mihi sunt tacitae commercia linguae, 701

Janitor et sedis laxae, qui viscera saevo

Spargis nostra cani, repetitaque fila sorores

* Persephone prefers the nether world.

* Hecate had three forms— Luna, Diana, and Hecate ; and
she bore the last form in the nether world.

3 Not Cerberus, who is fed bj' the custodian, but a mysterious
personage who occurs elsewhere.

354

I

BOOK VI

eagle ; the flying serpent of Arabia, and the viper
that is born by the Red Sea and guards the precious
pearl-shell ; the skin whicli the horned snake of
Libya casts off in its lifetime, and ashes of the
Phoenix which lays its body on the Eastern altar.
These ordinary banes that bear names she added to
her brew ; and next she put in leaves steeped with
magic unutterable, and herbs which her own dread
mouth had spat upon at their birth, and all the
poison that she herself gave to the world ; and lastly
her voice, more powerful than any drug to bewitch
the powers of Lethe, first uttered indistinct sounds,
sounds untunable and far different from human
speech. The dog's bark and the wolfs howl were
in that voice ; it resembled the complaint of the
restless owl and the night-flying screech-owl, the
shrieking and roaring of wild beasts, the serpent's
hiss, the beat of waves dashing against rocks, the
sound of forests, and the thunder that issues from
a rift in the cloud : in that one voice all these things
were heard. Then she went on to speak plainly in
a Thessalian spell, with accents that went down to
Tartarus : " I invoke the Furies, the horror of Hell,
the punishments of the guilty, and Chaos, eager to
blend countless worlds in ruins ; I cry to the Ruler
of the world below, who suffers age-long pain be-
cause gods are so slow to die ; to Styx, and Elysium
where no Thessalian witch may enter ; to Persephone
who shuns her mother in heaven,^ and to her, the
third incarnation ^ of our patron, Hecate, who per-
mits the dead and me to converse together without
speech ; I call on the custodian ^ of the spacious
dwelling, who casts the flesh of men to the ravening
hound; on the Sisters, who must spin a second

355

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Tracturae tuque o flagrantis portitor undae,

lam lassate senex ad me redeuntibus umbris : 705

Exaudite preees. Si vos satis ore nefando

Pollutoque voco, si numquam haec earmina fibris

Humanis ieiuna cano, si pectora plena

Saepe deo lavi calido prosecta cerebro.

Si quia, cum vestris caput extaque lancibus infans, 710

rnposuit victurus erat, parete precanti.

Non in Tartareo latitantem poscimus antro

Adsuetamque diu tenebris, modo luce fugata

Descendentem animam ; primo palientis hiatu

Haeret adhuc Orci, licet has exaudiat herbas, 715

Ad manes ventura semel. Ducis omnia nato

Pompeiana canat nostri modo militis umbra,

Si bene de vobis civilia bella merentur."

Haec ubi fata caput spumantiaque ora levavit,
Aspicit astantem proiecti corporis umbram, 720

Exanimes artus invisaque claustra timentem
Carceris antiqui. Pavet ire in pectus apertum
Visceraque et ruptas letali volnere fibras.
A miser, extremum cui mortis munus inique
Eripitur, non posse mori. Miratur Erictho, 725

Has fatis licuisse moras, irataque morti
Verberat inmotum vivo serpente cadaver,
Perque cavas terrae, quas egit carmine, rimas
Manibus inlatrat regnique silentia rumpit :
'' Tisiphone vocisque meae secura Megaera, 730

^ Charon.

2 All human breasts are inhabited by the divinity.

3 Lit. "who lately belonged to us."

356

BOOK VI

thread of life ; and on the ancient ferryman ^ of the
fiery river, wliose arms are weary of rowing the dead
back to me — hear ye my prayer. If these lips that
address you have enough of horror and pollution ;
if 1 never chant these spells when fasting from
human flesh ; if I have often chopped up bosoms
inhabited by the divinity, ^ and washed them with
warm brains; if any infant would have lived
when his head and inner organs were laid upon
your platters — then comply with my petition. I
ask not for one who lurks in the depths of Tartarus
and has long been accustomed to the darkness, but
for some soul that is just going down and leaving
the light behind him ; he still lingers at the
entrance of the chasm that leads to gloomy Orcus,
and, though he obey my spells now, he will go down
but once to the shades. Let the ghost of a Pompeian,
who but lately was alive,^ foretell all the future
to Pompey's son, if ye owe gratitude to the civil
war."

When she had spoken thus, she raised her head
and foaming mouth, and saw beside her the ghost
of the unburied corpse. It feared the lifeless frame
and the hateful confinement of its former prison ;
it shrank from entering the gaping bosom, the vital
parts, and the flesh divided by a mortal wound.
Hapless wretch ! unjustly robbed of death's last
gift — the inability to die a second time. Erictho
marvelled that fate had power to linger thus.
Enraged with death, she lashed the passive corpse
with a live serpent; and through the chinks into
which the earth was split by her spells she barked
like a dog at the siiades and burst the silence of
their kingdom : " Tisiphone, and Megaera heedless

357

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Non agitis saevis Erebi per inane flagellis
Infelicem animam ? iam vos ego nomine vero
Eliciam Stygiasque canes in luce superna
Destituam ; per busta sequar, per funera, custos ;
Expellam tumulis^ abigam vos omnibus urnis. 735

Teque deis, ad quos alio procedere voltu
Ficta soles, Hecate pallenti tabida forma,
Ostendam faciemque Erebi mutare vetabo.
Eloquar, inmenso terrae sub pondere quae te
Contineant, Hennaea, dapes, quo foedere maestum 740
Regem noctis ames, quae te contagia passam
Noluerit revocare Ceres. Tibi, pessime mundi
Arbiter, inmittam ruptis Titan a cavernis,
Et subito feriere die. Paretis ? an ille
Conpellandus erit, quo numquam terra vocato 745

Non concussa tremit, qui Gorgona cernit apertam
Verberibusque suis trepidam castigat Erinyn,
Indespecta tenet vobis qui Tartara, cuius
Vos estis superi, Stygias qui peierat undas ? "
Protinus astrictus caluit cruor atraque fovit 760

Volnera et in venas extremaque membra cucurrit.
Percussae gelido trepidant sub pectore fibrae,
Et nova desuetis subrepens vita medullis
Miscetur morti. Tunc omnes palpitat artus,

^ The soul {aniina) is clearly distinct from the ghost {umbra)
of 1. 720.

2 Secret names, known only to Erictho.

2 She is called JTennaea, because she was carried off from
Henna by Pluto. Erictho here professes to know of some
unlawful food eaten by Proserpina, and of some unlawful bond
between her and her husband ; but all this may be invented by
Lucan. It is impossible that he can refer here to the story of
the pomegranate, which was universally known.

* The order of the world's rulers is: (1) Jupiter; (2) Nep-
tune ; (3) Pluto.

358

BOOK VI

of my voice, will you not drive with your cruel
scourges that wretched soul ^ through the waste of
Erebus ? Soon will I summon you forth by your
real names,^ and leave you, hounds of Hell, helpless
in the light of the upper world ; through graves and
burials I shall follow you and mark you ; I shall
drive you from tombs, and banish you from all urns
of the dead. And you, Hecate, wasted and pale of
aspect, who are wont to make up your face before
you visit the gods above, I shall show you to them
as you are and prevent you from putting off the hue
of Hell. I shall tell the world the nature of that
food which confines Proserpina ^ beneath the huge
weight of earth, the bond of love that unites her to
the gloomy king of night, and the defilement she
suffered, such that her mother would not call her
back. And on you, worst of the world's Rulers,* I
shall launch the sun's light, bursting open your
den ; and the sudden light shall blast you. Do ye
obey me ? Or must I appeal to Him,^ at the sound
of whose name the earth ever quakes and trembles.
He looks on the Gorgon's head unveiled ; He lashes
the cowering Fury with her own scourge; He
dwells in a Tartarus beneath your view ; to Him ye
are the gods above ; He swears by the Styx, and
breaks his oath." — Instantly the clotted blood grew
warm ; it warmed the livid wounds, coursing into the
veins and the extremities of the limbs. Struck by
it, the vital organs thrilled within the cold breast ;
and a new life, stealing into the inward parts that
had lost it, wrestled with death. Next, the dead

* The mysterious deity known as Demiurgus is apparently
used to threaten the infernal powers with.

359

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Tenduntur nervi ; nee se tellure cadaver 755

Paulatim per membra levat, terraque repulsum est

Erectumque semel. Distento lumina rictu

Niidantur. Nondum facies viventis in illo,

lam morientis erat ; remanet pallorque rigorque,

Et stupet inlatus mundo. Sed murmure nullo 760

Ora astricta sonant : vox illi linguaque tantum

Responsura datiir. ^' Die " inquit Thessala '' magna.

Quod iubeo, mercede mihi ; nam vera locutum

Inmunem toto mundi praestabimus aevo

Artibiis Haemoniis ; tali tua membra sepulchre, 765

Talibus exuram Stygio cum carmine silvis,

Ut nullos cantata magos exaudiat umbra.

Sit tanti vixisse iterum : nee verba nee herbae

Audebunt longae somnum tibi solvere Letlies

A me morte data. Tripodas vatesque deorum 770

Sors obscura decet : certus discedat, ab umbris

Quisquis vera petit duraeque oracula mortis

Fortis adit. Ne parce, precor : da nomina rebus,

Da loca ; da vocem, qua mecum fata loquantur."

Addidit et carmen, quo, quidquid consulit, umbram 775

Scire dedit. Maestum fletu manante cadaver

" Tristia non equidem Parcarum stamina " dixit

" Aspexi tacitae revocatus ab aggere ripae ;

Quod tamen e cunctis mihi noscere contigit umbris,

EfFera Romanos agitat discordia manes, 780

Inpiaque infernam ruperunt arma quietem ;

* He had passed from the state of death to that of dying, ou
his way to become alive.

360

BOOK VI

man quivered in every limb ; the sinews were
strained, and he rose, not slowly or limb by limb,
but rebounding from the earth and standing erect
at once. His mouth gaped wide and his eyes were
open ; he looked as if he were not yet alive but
already like a man dying/^ The pallor and stiffness
remained ; and he was dazed by his restoration to
this world. The mouth was fettered and gave forth
no sound : voice and utterance were given him but
only for the purpose of reply. " Speak at my com-
mand," said the witch, "and great shall be your
reward ; for if you speak truth, I shall make you
safe from witchcraft throughout all time. On
such a pyre and with such fuel shall I burn your
body, chanting a Stygian spell the while, that your
ghost shall remain deaf to the incantation of all
sorcerers. Consider a second life a price worth
pa} ing for this : neither herbs nor spells will dare
to break your long sleep of oblivion, once you receive
death from me, A riddling answer befits the oracles
and prophets of the gods ; but if any man seeks to
know the truth from the dead and has courage to
approach the oracles of stern death, let him depart
assured. Be not grudging, I pray: give events
their names, their places ; and provide a voice by
which Fate may communicate with me." Then she
added a spell, which enabled the ghost to know all
that she asked. The dead man spoke in sorrow,
and his tears flowed fast : " Brought back from the
high bank of the silent river, I saw not the cruel
Fates at their spinning ; but this I was able to learn
from all the shades — that furious strife prevails
among the Roman dead, and that civil war has
shattered the peace of the infernal world. From

361

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Elysias Latii ^ sedes ac Tartara maesta
Diversi liquere duces. Quid fata pararent.
Hi fecere palam. Tristis felicibus umbris
Voltus erat : vidi Decios, natumque patremque 785

Lustrales bellis animas, flentemque Camillum
Et Curios, Sullam de te, Fortuna, querentem.
Deplorat Libycis perituram Scipio terris
Infaustam subolem ; maior Carthaginis hostis
Non servituri maeret Cato fata nepotis. 790

Solum te, consul depulsis prime tyrannis
Brute, pias inter gaudentem vidimus umbras.
Abruptis Catilina minax fractisque catenis
Exultat Mariique truces nudique Cethegi ;
Vidi ego laetantes, popularia nomina, Drusos 705

Legibus inmodicos ausosque ingentia Gracchos.
Aeternis chalybis nodis et carcere Ditis
Constrictae plausere manus, camposque piorum
Poscit turba nocens. Regni possessor inertis
Pallentes aperit sedes, abruptaque saxa 800

Asperat et durum vinclis adamanta, paratque
Poenam victori. Refer haec solacia tecum,
O iuvenis, placido manes patremque domumque
Expectare sinu regnique in parte serena
Pompeis servare locum. Nee gloria parvae 806

Sollicitet vitae : veniet quae misceat omnes
Hora duces. Properate mori magnoque superbi
Quamvis e parvis animo descendite bustis
Et Romanorum manes calcate deorum.
Quem tumulum Nili, quem Thybridis adluat unda, 810
^ Latii Ilousman : alti or alii MSS.

* The Censor who repeated the saving, delenda est Karthago.
^ He foresaw that his descendant would kill Caesar.

^ See note to ii. 543.

* These are the emperors deified after death.

362

BOOK VI

opposite quarters the mightiest Romans have left
Elysium and gloomy Tartarus ; and they have made
clear what fate has in store. For the blessed dead
wore a sorrowful aspect : I saw the Decii, tlie father
and son who devoted their lives to the gods in
battle, and Camillas, and Curius ; they all wept,
and Sulla railed against Fortune. Scipio was
grieved that the unhappy scion of his race should
fall on Libyan soil ; and Cato/ a still fiercer foe of
Carthage, lamented the death which his descendant
prefers to slavery. Only one of the blest I saw
rejoicing — it was Brutus,^ the first consul after the
kings were thrown down. But formidable Catiline
had snapped and broken his fetters, and was exult-
ing, together with fierce Marius and Cethegus of
the naked arm ; ^ I saw the delight of Drusus, the
demagogue and rash legislator, and of the Gracchi,
whose boldness knew no limit. Their hands, fet-
tered by everlasting links ot s1?eel and by Pluto's
prison-house, clapped for joy ; and the wicked
claimed the plains of the blessed. The lord of that
stagnant realm throws wide his dim abode ; he
sharpens his steep rocks and the hard steel for
fetters, preparing punishment for the victorious rival.
Take back this consolation with you, Pompeius, —
that the dead look to welcome your father and his
family in a peaceful retreat, and are keeping a place
for him and his in the bright portion of their
kingdom. Let not short-lived glory trouble you :
the hour will soon come that makes all the leaders
equal. Make haste to die ; proud of your high
hearts, go down from graves however humble, and
trample on the ghosts of the gods of Rome.* By
whose grave shall flow the Nile, and by whose the

363

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Quaeritur, et ducibus tantum de funere pugna est

Tu fatum ne quaere tuum : cognoscere Parcae

Me reticente dabunt ; tibi certior omnia vates

Ipse canet Siculis genitor Pompeius in arvis,

Ille quoque incertus, quo te vocet, unde repellat,

Quas iubeat vitare plagas, quae sidera mundi. 815

Europam, miseri, Libyamque Asiamque timete :

Distribuit tumulos vestris fortuna triumphis.

O miseranda domus^ toto nil orbe videbis

Tutius Emathia." Sic postquam fata peregit, 820

Stat voltu maestus tacito mortemque reposcit.

Carminibus magicis opus est herbisque, cadaver

Ut cadat, et nequeunt animam sibi reddere fata

Consumpto iam iure semel. Tunc robore muito

Extruit ilia rogum ; venit defunctus ad ignes. 825

Accensa iuvenem positum strue liquit Erictho

Tandem passa mori, Sextoque ad castra parentis

It comes, et caelo lucis ducente colorem,

Dum ferrent tutos intra tentoria gressus,

lussa tenere diem densas nox praestitit umbras. 830

1 It appears that Lucan intended to bring in Ponipey's
ghost later ; but that part of the poem was never written.

2 Pompey himself was murdered in l^gypt ; his elder son,
Gnaeus, fell in Spain ; and Sextus himself was killed at"
Miletus in Asia. Pompey had triumphed over Numidia,
Spain, and Asia

364

BOOK VI

Tiber — that is the question ; and the battle of the
rivals settles nothing but their place of burial.
For yourself, enquire not concerning your destiny ;
the Fates will enlighten you, with no words from
me ; for your father himself, a surer prophet, will
tell you all in the land of Sicily ; ^ and even he
knows not whither to summon you and whence to
warn you away, what region or clime he must
bid you avoid. Ill-fated house ! you must fear
Europe and Africa and Asia ; Fortune divides your
graves among the lands you have triumphed over ; ^
you shall find no place in all the world less dangerous
than Pharsalia." — When he had ended thus his
prophecy, he stood still in silence and sorrow, de-
manding to die once more. Spells and drugs were
needed before the corpse could die ; and death,
having exerted all its power already, could not
claim the life again. Then the witch built up a
great pyre of wood ; the dead man walked to the
fire ; and Erictho left him stretched upon the
lighted pile, and suffered him at last to die.
Together with Sextus she went to his father's
camp. The sky was now taking on the hue of
dawn ; but, at her bidding, night held back day
and gave them thick darkness until they should set
foot in safety within the encampment.

365

BOOK VII

LIBER SEPTIMUS

Segnior, Oceano quam lex aeterna vocabat,
Luctificus Titan numquam magis aethera contra
Egit equos cursumque polo rapiente retorsitj
Defectusque pati voluit raptaeque labores
Lucis, et attraxit nubes, non pabula flammis, 5

Sed ne Thessalico purus luceret in orbe.
At nox felicis Magno pars ultima vitae
Sollicitos vana decepit imagine somnos.
Nam Pompeiani visus sibi sede theatri
Innumeram effigiem Romanae cernere plebis 10

Attollique suum laetis ad sidera noraen
Vocibus et plausu cuneos certare sonantes ;
Qualis erat populi facies clamorque faventis
Olim, cum iuvenis primique aetate triumphi
Post domitas gentes, quas torrens ambit Hiberus, 15
Et quaecumque fugax Sertorius inpulit arma,
Vespere pacato, pura venerabilis aeque
Quam currus ornante toga, plaudente senatu,
Sedit adhuc Romanus eques : seu fine bonorum

* The ancients believed that the sun's own motion across the
sky was from West to East, but that the sky itself revolvedl
from East to West at a greater rate and so carried the sun]
with it.

* Lucan is mistaken: Pompey triumphed three times : (\)\
over Numidia in 81 B.C. ; (2} over Spain in 71 ; (3) over Asia]

368

\

BOOK VII

Unpunctual to the summons of eternal law, the
sorrowing Sun rose from Ocean, driving his steeds
harder than ever against the revolution of the sky,
and urging his course backwards, though the heavens
whirled him on ;^ fain would he have suffered eclipse
and the pain of losing his light ; and he drew clouds
towards him, not to feed his flames, but to prevent
him from shining unsullied in the region of Thessaly.

That night, the end of happiness in the life of
Magnus, beguiled his troubled sleep with a hollow
semblance. He dreamed that he was sitting in his
own theatre and saw in a vision the countless
multitudes of Rome ; and that his name was lifted
to the sky in their shouts of joy, while all the tiers
vied in proclaiming his praise. Such was the aspect
of the people, sucli was their loud applause, in his
distant youth, at the time of his first ^ triumph :
he had conquered the clans surrounded by the swift
Hiberus, and defeated every force that Sertorius had
hurled against him in guerilla warfare ; he had
given peace to the West, and now he sat and was
cheered by senators, himself no more as yet than
a Roman knight, but no less worshipped in his

in 61. In 71 he was still an eques, but he began his first
consulship on January 1st, 70.

369
VOL. I. V

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Anxia Venturis ad tempora laeta refugit, 20

Sive per ambages soiitas contraria visis

Vaticinata quies magni tulit omina planctus,

Seu vetito patrias ultra tibi camera sedes

Sic Romam Fortuna dedit. Na rumpite somnos,

Castrorum vigilas, nullas tuba verberat auras. 26

Crastina dira quies at imagine maesta diurna

Undique funestas acies feret, undique bellum.

Unda pares somnos populis noctemque beatam?

O falix, si ta val sic tua Roma videret I

Donassent utinam superi patriaeque tibique 30

Unum, Magne, diem, quo fati certus uterque

Extramum tanti fructum raparetis amoris.

Tu valut Ausonia vadis moriturus in urbe.

Ilia rati semper de te sibi conscia voti

Hoc scelus baud umquam fatis haerere putavit, 36

Sic se dilecti turaulum quoque perdera Magni.

Ta mixto flasset luctu iuvenisque senexque

Iniussusque puer ; lacerasset crine soluto

Pectora famineum, cau Bruti funera, volgus.

Nunc quoque, tela licet paveant victoris iniqui, 40

Nuntiet ipse licet Caesar tua funera, flebunt.

Sad dum tura ferunt, dum laurea sarta Tonanti.

* populi here must stand for the Roman people or the
Italians : comp. i. 511. pares is adjective, not a verb.

BOOK VII

plain robe of white than in that which adorns the
triumphal car. Perhaps his dreams took refuge in
happier days because they feared the future and
because prosperity was ended ; perhaps sleep in-
directly, as her custom is, presaged the opposite of
his dream and foretold a great lamentation ; or else
Fortune brought Rome before him thus, because it
was ordained that he should never see his home
again. Break not his sleep, watchmen of the camp ;
let no trumpet beat upon his ear. To-morrow
his sleep will be haunted : saddened by visions of
the day, it will present nothing but the fatal field,
nothing but war. Would that the Romans^ could
have had a night of happiness and such a sleep
as his ! Fortunate had been the Rome he loved,
if she had seen him even in a dream. One day
at least the gods should have granted to him and
to his country, on which each, with full knowledge of
the future, might have snatched the last enjoyment
of their great love for one another. He goes
forth, believing that he is destined to die at Rome ;
and Rome, knowing that her prayers for him had
always been answered, refused to believe that this
horror was written in the book of destiny — that she
should thus lose even the grave of her beloved
Magnus. Young and old, blending their grief,
would have mourned for him, and even children
uncompelled ; the crowd of women would have let
down their hair and torn their breasts, as when
Brutus was buried. Even as it is, though men
dread the arms of the tyrannous conqueror, though
Caesar himself announce the death, weep they will,
even while oifering incense and laurel wreaths to
the Thunderer. Unhappy Romans ! whose groans

371

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

O miseri, quorum gemitus edere dolorem.
Qui te non pleno pariter planxere theatre.

Vicerat astra iubar, cum mixto murmure turba
Castrorum fremuit fatisque trahentibus orbem
Signa petit pugnae. Miseri pars maxima volgi
Non totum visura diem tentoria circum
Ipsa ducis queritur magnoque accensa tumultu
Mortis vicinae properantes admovet horas.
Dira subit rabies ; sua quisque ac publica fata
Praecipitare cupit ; segnis pavidusque vocatur
Ac nimium patiens soceri Pompeius, et orbis
Indulgens regno, qui tot simul undique gentes
luris habere sui vellet pacemque timeret.
Nee non et reges populique queruntur Eoi
Bella tralii patriaque procul tellure teneri.
Hoc placet, o superi, cum vobis veitere cuncta
Propositum, nostris erroribus addere crimen ?
Cladibus inruimus nocituraque poscimus anna ;
In Pompeianis votura est Pliarsalia castris.
Cunctorum voces Romani maximus auctor
Tullius eloquii, cuius sub iure togaque
Pacificas saevus tremuit Catilina secures,
Pertulit iratus bellis, cum rostra forumque
Optaret, passus tam longa silentia miles.
Addidit invalidae robur facundia causae.

" Hoc pro tot meritis solum te, Magne, precatur
Uti se Foituna velis, proceresque tuorum

1 Cicero was not really present at Pharsalia : we have Livy's|
authority for this.

372

BOOK VII

swallowed down their grief, and who could not
all together make lamentation for Pompey in the
crowded theatre.

Sunshine had conquered the stars when the soldiery
raged with confused muttering and demanded the
signal for battle ; Fortune was haling the world to
destruction. Most of that hapless throng were fated
not to see the day out ; but they crowded close
to the leader's tent and murmured ; in heat and
great disorder they brought nearer the hasting hour
of imminent death. A dreadful frenzy comes over
them ; each is eager to hurry on his own fate and
the fate of his country. They call Pompey slow
and cowardly and too indulgent to his kinsman ;
he is seduced, say they, by the sovereignty of the
world ; he wishes to keep under his own sway so
many nations from every quarter ; and he dreads a
peace. The kings and peoples of the East also
complain that the campaign drags on too long, and
that they are detained far from their own countries.
Ye gods, when it is your set purpose to ruin
all things, does it please you to add guilt on our
part to mere mistakes? We rush upon disaster,
and clamour for battle that will destroy us ; and in
Pompey's camp men pray for Pharsalia. The pro-
tests of the multitude were conveyed by Cicero,
the chief model of Roman eloquence, Cicero,^ be-
neath whose civilian authority fierce Catiline dreaded
the axes of peace. Longing for the rostrum and
the Forum, and muzzled so long by military service,
he detested war. His eloquence gave force to
an unsound argument.

" Magnus, in return for all her favours Fortune
makes one request of you — that you will deign to

373

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Castrorum regesque tui cum supplice mundo

Adfusi, vinci socerum patiare rogamus.

Humani generis tam longo tempore bellum

Caesar erit ? merito Pompeium vincere lente

Gentibus indignum est a transcurrente subactis.

Quo tibi fervor abit aut quo fiducia fati ?

De superis, ingrate, times causamque senatus

Credere dis dubitas ? ipsae tua signa revellent

Prosilientque acies : pudeat vicisse coactum.

Si duce te iusso, si nobis bella geruntur,

Sit iuris, quocumque velint, concurrere campo.

Quid mundi gladios a sanguine Caesaris arces ?

Vibrant tela manus, vix signa morantia quisquam

Expectat : propera, te ne tua classica linquant.

Scire senatus avet, miles te, Magne, sequatur

An comes." Ingemuit rector sensitque deorum

Esse dolos et fata suae contraria menti.

" Si placet hoc " inquit " cunctis, si milite Magno,

Non duce tempus eget, nil ultra fata morabor :

Involvat populos una fortuna ruina,

Sitque hominum magnae lux ista novissima parti.

Testor, Roma, tamen Magnum, quo cuncta perirent,

Accepisse diem. Potuit tibi volnere nullo

374

BOOK VII

make use of her ; and we, the chief men of your
army, and the kings you made, together with the
whole world upon its knees, now prostrate ourselves
at your feet and ask that you will consent to the
conquest of your father-in-law. Shall Caesar remain
for ever the cause of war to mankind? Nations
whom Pompey subdued while he hurried past them
have a right to resent his slowness to conquer now.
What has become of your eager haste, or of your
confidence in your star ? Are you ungrateful enough
to doubt Heaven's favour ? Do you hesitate to
trust the cause of the Senate to the gods? The
soldiery, of their own accord, will wrench up your
standards and rush forward ; you should blush to
have victory forced upon you. If we have appointed
you to lead us, and if the war is waged for our
benefit, then let the men have leave to fight on
whatever field they will. Why do you keep away
the swords of all mankind from Caesar's throat?
Arms are brandished, and scarce can any man bear
to wait for the lagging signal ; make haste, or else
your own trumpets will leave you behind. The
senators would fain know this, Magnus, whether
they follow you in order to fight or merely to escort
you where you go." The leader groaned : he per-
ceived that the gods were playing him false, and that
destiny was thwarting his purpose. "If this," said
he, "is the desire of all, and if the crisis needs
me, not as a commander but as a soldier, I will
keep doom at bay no longer. Let Fortune whelm
the nations in a single overthrow, and let yonder
light be the last for half mankind. At least I call
Rome to witness that the day of universal destruc-
tion has been forced upon me. The toil of war

375

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Stare labor belli ; potui sine caede subactum

Captivumque dueem violatae tradere paci.

Quis furor, o caeci, scelerum ? Civilia bella 96

Gesturi metuunt, ne non cum sanguine vineant.

Abstuliraus terras, exclusimus aequore toto.

Ad praematuras segetum ieiuna rapinas

Agmina conpulimus, votumque efFecimus hosti,

Ut mallet sterni gladiis mortemque suorum loo

Permiscere meis. Belli pars magna peracta est

His, qiiibus effectum est, ne pugnam tiro paveret.

Si modo virtutis stimulis iraeque calore

Signa petunt. Multos in summa pericula misit

Venturi timor ipse mali. Fortissimus ille est, 105

Qui promptus metuenda pati, si comminus instent,

Et differre potest. Placet haec tam prospera rerum

Tradere fortunae, gladio permittere mundi

Discrimen ; pugnare ducem, quam vincere, malunt.

Res mihi Romanas dederas, Fortuna, regendas ; 110

Accipe maiores et caeco in Marte tuere.

Pompei nee crimen erit nee gloria bellum.

Vincis apud superos votis me, Caesar, iniquis :

Pugnatur. Quantum scelerum quantumque malorum

In populos lux ista feret ! quot regna iacebunt ! 115

Sanguine Romano quam turbidus ibit EnipeusI

Prima velim caput hoc funesti lancea belli.

Si sine momento rerum partisque ruina

376

BOOK VII

might have cost Rome no bloodshed ; I might have
won a bloodless victory over Caesar and handed him
over, a captive, to the peace he has outraged.
What guilty madness, what blindness is this ! Men
about to wage civil war are actually afraid of winning
a bloodless victory. We have wrenched the land
from the enemy, and expelled him utterly from
the sea ; we have forced his starving ranks to snatch
the corn ere it was ripe ; we have made him pray
to fall rather by the sword and to mingle the corpses
of his soldiers with the corpses of mine. By the
strategy, thanks to which my recruits have no fear
of battle, the campaign is half won already, if
indeed the spur of valour and the heat of pugnacity
make them demand the signal for action. But
many are driven to utmost peril by the mere dread
of coming danger. He is truly brave, who is both
quick to endure the ordeal, if it be close and
pressing, and willing also to let it wait. It is
resolved to hand over our present prosperous con-
dition to chance, and to let the sword decide the
doom of the world ; men had rather see their leader
fight than conquer. Fortune gave me the Roman
State to rule ; I give it back now greater than I
received it, and I call upon her to guard it in the
hurly-burly of war. The act of fighting will never
bring either reproach or glory to me. In the court
of Heaven Caesar's prayers for evil prevail over me;
and battle there is to be. How much crime and
how much suffering this day will bring to the
nations! How many thrones will be upset! How
dark the Enipeus will flow with Roman blood I The
first missile hurled in this fatal war is welcome to
find its billet in my head, if that head could fall

377

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Casurum est, feriat ; neque enim victoria Magno

Laetior. Aut populis invisum hac clade peracta 120

Aut hodie Pompeius erit miserabile nomen :

Omne malum victi, quod sors feret ultima rerum,

Omne nefas victoris erit." Sic fatur et arma

Permittit populis frenosque furentibus ira

Laxat et ut victus violento navita Coro 125

Dat regimen ventis ignavumque arte relicta

Puppis onus trahitur. Trepido confusa tumultu

Castra fremunt, animique truces sua pectora pulsant

Ictibus incertis. Multorum pallor in ore

Mortis venturae faciesque simillima fato. 130

Advenisse diem, qui fatum rebus in aevum

Conderet Immanis, et quaeri, Roma quid esset,

Illo Marte palam est. Sua quisque pericula nescit

Attonitus maiore metu. Quis litora ponto

Obruta, quis summis cernens in montibus aequor 136

Aetheraque in terras deiecto sole cadentem,

Tot rerum finem, timeat sibi ? non vacat ullos

Pro se ferre metus : urbi Magnoque timetur.

Nee gladiis habuere fidem, nisi cautibus asper

Exarsit mucro ; tunc omnis lancea saxo 140

Erigitur, tendunt nervis melioribus arcus,

Cura fuit lectis pharetras inplere sagittis.

Auget eques stimulos frenorumque artat habenas.

^ The conqueror, whether Pompey or Caesar, must inevitably
inflict cruelties on the defeated array, and will therefore be
hated.

I

BOOK VII

without influence on the issue and without the
destruction of our cause ; for to me victory is no
more welcome than defeat. When to-day's carnage
is complete, the name of Pompey will be one for
the world either to hate or to pity : every woe that
utter ruin brings will the vanquished suffer, and
every horror will the conqueror commit." ^ With
these words he suffers the nations to arm, and
gave a loose to their frenzied passion ; so the sailor,
when mastered by the fury of the gale, makes no
use of his skill, but leaves the steering to the winds,
and is swept along, an ignominious burden of his
vessel. The camp hums with the confusion of haste
and disorder, and fierce hearts beat with irregular
throbbing against the breasts that contain them.
The pale flag of coming death appeared on many
faces ; and their aspect was the very picture of
doom. It was clear to all that a day had come
which must settle the destiny of mankind for ages,
and that this battle must decide what Rome was to
be. Each man ignores his personal danger, appalled
by a mightier fear. Who that saw the shore covered
by the sea and the waves reaching the mountain-
tops, the sky falling down upon the earth and the
sun dashed from his place, could regard with selfish
fear such wide destruction } Men's minds are not
at leisure to fear for themselves : they tremble for
Rome and for Magnus. The soldiers put no trust in
their swords, unless the whetted points struck
fire from the grindstone ; every lance too was
sharpened against the stone, bows were strung with
better cords, and care was taken to fill the quivers
with picked arrows. The horseman enlarged his
spurs and tightened the straps of his bridle. Even

379

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Si liceat superis hominum conferre labores,

Non aliter Phlegra rabidos tollente gigantas 145

Martius incaluit Siculis incudibus ensis,

Et rubuit flammis iterum Neptunia cuspis,

Spiculaque extenso Paean Pythone recoxit,

Pallas Gorgoneos difFudit in aegida crines,

Pallenaea lovi mutavit fulmina Cyclops. 150

Non tamen abstinuit venturos prodere casus
Per varias Fortuna notas. Nam, Thessala rura
Cum peterent, totus venientibus obstitit aether
Adversasque faces inmensoque igne columnas 155

Et trabibus mixtis avidos typhonas aquarum
Detulit atque oculos ingesto fulgure clausit ;
Excussit cristas galeis capulosque solutis
Perfudit gladiis ereptaque pila liquavit,
Aetherioque nocens fumavit sulpure ferrum ; 160

Vixque revolsa solo maiori pondere pressum
Signiferi mersere caput rorantia fletu
Usque ad Thessaliam Romana et publica signa.
Admotus superis discussa fugit ab ara 165

Taurus et Emathios praeceps se iecit in agros,
Nullaque funestis inventa est victima sacris.
(At tu, quos scelerum superos, quas rite vocasti
Eumenidas, Caesar ? Stygii quae numina regni
Infernumque nefas et mersos nocte furores 170

Inpia tarn saeve gesturus bella litasti ?)
lam (dubium, monstrisne deum nimione pavori

^ Pallene is used as a synonym for Phlegra.
380

BOOK VII

so, if it is permissible to compare the activity of
men to that of gods — even so, when Phlegra up-
reared the furious Giants, the sword of Mars was
heated on the anvils of Etna ; the trident of Neptune
glowed in the flame a second time ; Apollo smelted
again the arrows which had unwound the coils of
Python ; Pallas scattered the Gorgon tresses over all
her aegis ; and the Cyclopes made for Jupiter new
thunderbolts for use at Pallene.^

Fortune, however, did not forbear from revealing
the future by means of divers signs. When the
army made for Thessaly, the whole sky set itself
against their march : it hurled down meteors in
their faces, and huge columns of fire, and whirlwinds
that suck up water, together with fireballs ; it dashed
lightning at them and so closed their eyes ; it
knocked the crests off their helmets, it flooded the
scabbards with the molten blades, it tore the javelins
from their grasp and fused them ; and the guilty
sword smoked with the sulphur of the sky. The
standards could scarce be plucked out of the ground ;
their increased weight bowed down the head of the
standard-bearer ; and they shed tears— -down to the
time of Pharsalia they belonged to Rome and to
the State. A bull, when brought forward for sacrifice,
upset the altar and fled, rushing headlong into the
fields of Thessaly ; and no victim was forthcoming
for the ill-omened rite. (But Caesar — what powers
of darkness, what fiends did he invoke without let
or hindrance .'' what deities of the Stygian realm,
what Horror of Hell, and Madness shrouded in
gloom ? Though he was soon to fight an infamous
battle with such cruelty, his prayer was heard.)
Whether men were convinced by divine portents or

381

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Crediderint) multis concurrere visus Olympo

Pindus et abruptis mergi convallibus Haemus,

Edere nocturnas belli Pharsalia voces, 176

Ire per Ossaeam rapid us Boebeida sanguis ;

Inque vicem voltus tenebris mirantur opertos

Et pallere diem galeisque incumbere noctem

Defunctosque patres et iuncti^ sanguinis umbras

Ante oculos volitare suos. Sed mentibus unum 180

Hoc solamen erat, quod voti turba nefandi

Conscia, quae patrum iugulos, quae pectora fratrum

Sperabat, gaudet monstris mentisque tumultum

Atque omen scelerum subitos putat esse furores.

Quid mirum, populos, quos lux extrema manebat, 185
Lymphato trepidasse metu, praesaga malorum
Si data mens homini est ? Tyriis qui Gadibus hospes
Adiacet Armeniumque bibit Romanus Araxen,
Sub quocumque die, quocumque est sidere mundi,
Maeret et ignorat causas animumque dolentem 19U

Corripit, Emathiis quid perdat nescius arvis.
Euganeo, si vera fides memorantibus, augur
Colle sedens, Aponus terris ubi fumifer exit
Atque Antenorei dispergitur unda Timavi,
" Venit summa dies, geritur res maxima," dixit 193

" Inpia concurrunt Pompei et Caesaris arma,"
Seu tonitrus ac tela lovis praesaga notavit,
Aethera seu totum discordi obsistere caelo

* iuncti Heinsi us : cuncti (-is, -&&) MSS.

^ Gains Cornelius was the augur, and the place was Patavium
(Padua). This case of telepathy was vouched for by Livy,
himself a native of Patavium ; see Plutarch, Caesar^ o. 47.

3*1

BOOK VII

their own excessive terror, who can tell ? But many
also believed that they saw Pindus collide with
Olympus, and the Balkan subside in precipitous
hollows, while Pharsalia sent forth the din of battle
by night, and a torrent of blood spread over lake
Boebeis beside Ossa. Men gaze with wonder at
each other's faces veiled with darkness, at the
dimness of the light, at the blackness that brooded
over the helmets, at the ghosts that moved to and
fro before their sight — ghosts of parents dead and
of kindred. But their souls had this one solace :
the host, conscious of their own horrible desire,
and hoping to pierce a father's throat or a brother's
bosom, took pleasure in the portents, believing that
the ferment of their minds and their sudden madness
boded success to their crimes.

If the power to presage misfortune has been
granted to mankind, what wonder that those whose
last day was at hand quaked with panic fear?
Whether he be a sojourner by Tyrian Gades or drink
of the Araxes in Armenia, whatever his clime and
whatever the star of heaven beneath which he lives
— every Roman grieves and knows not why and
chides himself for his sadness ; for he knows not
what loss he is sufferini? now in the land of Thessaly.
If those who tell the tale may be believed, an augur ^
sat that day on the Euganean hills, where the
smoking spring of Aponus issues from the ground
and the Timavus, river of Antenor, splits into
channels ; and he cried : " The decisive day has
come ; the great battle is being fought ; the armies
of Pompey and Caesar meet in unnatural conflict."
Either he observed the thunder and the warning
bolts of Jupiter ; or he saw that all the firmament

383

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Perspexitque polos^ seu numen in aethere maestum

Solis in obscuro pUgnam pallore notavit. 200

Dissimilem certe cunctis quos explicat egit

Thessalicum natura diem : si cuncta perito

Augure mens hominum caeli nova signa notasset,

Spectari toto potuit Pharsalia mundo.

O summos hominum^ quorum fortuna per orbem 206

Signa dedit, quorum fatis caelum omne vacavit !

Haec et apud seras gentes populosque nepotum,

Sive sua tantum venient in saecula fama,

Sive aliquid magnis nostri quoque cura laboris

Nominibus prodesse potest, cum bella legentur, 210

Spesque metusque simul perituraque vota movebunt,

Attonitique omnes veluti venientia fata,

Non transmissa, legent et adhuc tibi, Magne, favebunt.

Miles, ut adverso Phoebi radiatus ab ictu
Descendens totos perfudit lumine colics, 216

Noil temere inmissus campis : stetit ordine certo
Infelix acies. Cornus tibi cura sinistri,
Lentule, cum prima, quae tum fuit optima bello,
Et quarta legione datur. Tibi, numine pugnax
Adverso Domiti, dextri frons tradita Martis. 220

At medii robur belli fortissima densant
Agmina, quae Cilicum terris deducta tenebat
Scipio, miles in hoc, Libyco dux primus in orbe.
At iuxta fluvios et stagna undantis Enipei
Cappadocum montana cohors et largus habenae 225

* After Pompey's death.

BOOK VII i/

and the poles were at strife with the warring
sky ; or else the sorrowing deity in heaven signified
tiie battle by the dimness and obscurity of the sun.
At least it is certain that Nature made the day of
Pliarsalia pass unlike all other days which she
reveals ; if hiunan intelligence, by means of skilled
augurs, had observed all the strange signs in heaven,
then the battle might have been watched all the
world over. How great were these men, whose
fortunes were advertised over the whole world, and
to whose destiny all heaven was attentive ! Even
in later ages and among posterity, these events,
whether their own fame alone immortalises them or
I too, by my pains and study, can do some service to
famous men, will excite hope and fear together and
useless prayers, when the story of battle is read;
and all men will be spell-bound as they read the
tragedy, as if it were still to come and not past ; and
all will still take sides with Magnus.

When the soldiers came down, lighted up by the
sunbeams facing them, the glitter of their arms
flooded all the hills. They were not launched at
random upon the plain : the doomed army was
stationed according to a definite plan. Lentulus
had charge of the left wing with two legions— the
first, which was then the most fit for war, and the
fourth ; the right wing of the host was entrusted to
Domitius, that brave but ill-starred warrior. The
main strength of the centre was in the close
ranks of brave men whom Scipio, their general, had
brought from Cilicia ; here he was but a combatant
but was yet to hold the chief command in Africa,^
Then by the channel of the Enipeus and the pools
of its overflow rode tlie horsemen of the Cappadocian

3&5

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Ponticus ibat eques. Sicci sed plurima campi

Tetrarchae regesque tenent magnique tyranni

Atque omnis Latio quae servit purpura ferro.

Illuc et Libye Numidas et Creta Cydonas

Misitj Ityraeis cursus fuit inde sagittis, 230

Inde, truce? Galli, solitum prodistis in hostem,

Illic pugnaces commovit Hiberia caetras.

Eripe victori gentes et sanguine raundi

Fuso, Magne, semel totos consume triumphos.

Illo forte die Caesar statione relicta 235

Ad segetum raptus moturus signa repente
Conspicit in pianos hostem descendere campos,
Oblatumque videt votis sibi mille petitum
Tempus, in extremos quo mitteret omnia casus.
Aeger quippe morae flagransque cupidine regni 240

Coeperat exiguo tractu civilia bella
Ut lentum damnare nefas. Discrimina postquam
Adventare ducum supremaque proelia vidit,
Casuram et fatis sensit nutare ruinam.
Ilia quoque in ferrum rabies proraptissima paulum 246
Languit, et casus audax spondere secundos
Mens stetit in dubio, quam nee sua fata timere
Nee Magni sperare sinunt. Formidine mersa
Prosilit hortando melior fiducia volgo,
" O domitor mundi, rerum fortuna mearum, 260

Miles, adest totiens optatae copia pugnae.

3^6

BOOK VII

hills and the riders of Pontus with loose reins. Of
the dry ground most was occupied by the tetrarchs
and kings and mighty potentates, and all wearers
of the purple who bow before the Roman steel.
Thither Libya sent Numidians, and Crete her
Cydonians ; from there the arrows of the Ituraeans
took their flight ; from there the fierce Gauls went
forth against their familiar foe ; and there the
Spaniards brandished their shields for battle. Let
Magnus rob the conqueror of the subject i)eoples
and use up on one day all the means of future
triumphs by shedding the blood of all mankind !

It happened on that day that Caesar had left his
position, and was about to march his men to plunder
the cornfields, when suddenly he saw his enemy
come down to the level plains. Before him lay the
opportunity he had prayed for a thousand times —
the opportunity of staking all his fortunes on a final
cast. For sick of delay and burrnng with desire for
a regal throne, he had begun to loathe the short
space of the civil war as a crime which took too long
in the doing. But when he saw that the ordeal
of the rivals and the decisive battle was drawing
near, and when he perceived that the crash which
fate must bring was nodding to its fall, even that
wild desire for instant slaughter waxed faint for a
time ; his heart, ever ready to vouch for victory,
hesitated now : how was fear possible, when he
viewed his own career? how was hope, when he
thought of Pompey's .'' Fear sank down, and bold-
ness sprang forth — a better means for inspiriting
his men : " Soldiers, who have conquered the world,
and on whom my destiny depends, behold the chance
of battle you have so often prayed for. Prayer is

387

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Nil opus est votis, iam fatum accersite ferro.
In manibus vestris, quantus sit Caesar, habetis.
Haec est ilia dies, milii quam Rubiconis ad undas
Promissam memini, cuius spe movimus arma, 255

In quam distulimus vetitos remeare triumph os,
Haec, fato quae teste probet, quis iustius arma
Sumpserit ; haec acies victum factura nocentem est. 260
"Si pro me patriam ferro flammisque petistis,
Nunc pugnate truces gladioque exsolvite culpam :
Nulla manus, belli mutato iudice, pura est. "
Non mihi res agitur, sed, vos ut libera sitis
Turba, precor gentes ut ius habeatis in omnes, 265

Ipse ego privatae cupidus me reddere vitae
Plebeiaque toga modicum conponere civem.
Omnia dum vobis liceant, nihil esse recuso.
Invidia regnate mea. Nee sanguine multo
Spem mundi petitis : Grais delecta iuventus 270

Gymnasiis aderit studioque ignava palaestrae
Et vix arma ferens, aut mixtae dissona turbae
Barbaries, non ilia tubas, non agmine moto
Clamorem latura suum. Civilia paucae
Bella man us facient; pugnae pars magna levabit 276
His orbem populis Romanumque obteret hostem.
Ite per ignavas gentes famosaque regna
Et primo ferri motu prosternite mundum,
388

BOOK VII

no longer needed ; with your swords you must now
summon fate. The greatness of Caesar is yours
to determine. That day has come, which, as I
remember, you promised me by the waters of the
Rubicon, the day which encouraged us to take up
arms, the day to which we postponed the triumphant
return denied us ; and this day must decide, on the
evidence of destiny, which of the two combatants
had justice on his side : this battle will pronounce
the guilt of him who lose;s it. If in defence of me
you have attacked your native land with fire and
sword, fight fiercely to-day and use your swords to
clear your guilt. Not one of you has guiltless hands,
if I be no longer the judge of war. It is not my
fortunes that are at stake : my prayer is for you —
that you, for your freedom's sake, may bear rule
over all nations. My own desire is to return to
private life, to wear the people's dress, and to play
the part of an ordinary citizen ; but provided you
are all-powerful, I am willing to accept any position ;
yours be the kingly power, mine the discredit!
Nor will the world you hope to win cost you much
bloodshed : you will meet an army enlisted from
the training-schools of Greece, enfeebled by the
practice of the wrestling-ground, and scarce able
to carry the weight of their arms ; or else barbarians
with disordered ranks and discordant tongues, who
will not endure the sound of the trumpet or even
the noise of their own march. Few of you will lift
their hands against Romans : most of the fighting
will rid the world of inferior races and crush under-
foot the enemies of Rome. Make your way through
these cowardly nations and kingdoms of evil fame ;
lay a whole world low with the first stroke of the

389

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Sitque palam, quas tot duxit Pompeius in urbem

Curribus, unius gentes non esse triumphi. 280

Armeniosne movet, Romana potentia cuius

Sit ducis ? aut emptum minimo volt sanguine quisquam

Barbarus Hesperiis Magnum praeponere rebus?

Romanos odere omnes, dominosque gravantur,

Quos novere, magis. Sed me fortuna meorum 286

Commisit manibus, quarum me Gallia testem

Tot fecit bellis. Cuius non militis ensem

Agnoscam? caelumque tremens cum lancea transit,

Dicel'e non fallar, quo sit vibrata lacerto.

Quod si, signa ducem numquam fallentia vestrum, 290

Conspicio faciesque truces oculosque minaces,

Vicistis. Videor fluvios spectare cruoris

Calcatosque simul reges sparsumque senatus

Corpus et inmensa populos in caede natantes.

Sed mea fata moror, qui vos in tela furentes 295

Vocibus his teneo. Veniam date bella trahenti :

Spe trepido ; baud umquam vidi tam magna daturos

Tam prope me superos ; camporum limite parvo

Absumus a votis. Ego sum, cui Marte peracto.

Quae populi regesque tenent, donare licebit. 300

Quone poli motu, quo caeli sidere verso

Thessalicae tantum, superi, permittitis orae?

Aut merces hodie bellorum aut poena parata.

Caesareas spectate cruces, spectate catenas

Et caput iioc positum rostris eiiusaque membra 305

390

BOOK VII

steel ; reveal to all that the peoples who so often
followed Pompey's triumphal car to Rome are not
material enough for even a single triumph. Do the
Armenians care which among rivals has power at
Rome ? Or would any barbarian give a drop of his
blood in order to set Magnus over Italy ? They
hate all Romans and resent their domination ; but
they hate most the Romans they know. But me
Fortune has entrusted to the hands of my own
soldiers ; and full many a war in Gaul made me
the witness of their prowess. I shall know again
the sword of every fighter ; and when the lance flies
quivering through the sky, I shall make no mistake
in naming the arm that hurled it. But if I see
those tokens that never play your leader false — fierce
countenances and threatening eyes — then victory is
yours. Methinks I see rivers of blood, kings trodden
under foot together, mangled bodies of senators,
and whole nations weltering in unlimited carnage.
But I delay the course of my destiny, when these
words of mine detain you — you who are frantic for
the fray. Pardon me for putting off the battle ; my
hopes unsettle me ; never have I seen the gods so
near me and ready to give so much ; only a little
strip of land divides us from all we pray for. I am
the man, who, when the fighting is over, will have
power to give away all that now belongs to nations
and kings. What shift has taken place in the sky,
what star in heaven has suffered change, that the
gods grant such a privilege to Thessaly.'' To-day
either the reward or the penalty of war is before us.
Picture to yourselves the cross and the chains in
store for Caesar, my head stuck upon the Rostrum
and my limbs unburied ; think of the crime of the

391

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Saeptorumque nefas et clausi proelia Campi.

Cum jduce Sullano gerimus civilia bella.

Vestri cura movet ; nam me secura manebit

Sors quaesita manu : fodientem viscera cernet

Me mea, qui nondum victo respexerit hoste. 310

Di, quorum curas abduxit ab aethere tellus

Romanusque labor, vincat, quicumque necesse

Non putat in victos saevum destringere ferrum

Quique suos elves, quod signa adversa tulerunt,

Non credit fecisse nefas. Pompeius in arto 315

Agmina vestra loco vetita virtute moveri

Cum tenuit, quanto satiavit sanguine ferrum !

Vos tamen hoc oro, iuvenes, ne caedere quisquam

Hostis terga velit : civis, qui fugerit, esto.

Sed dum tela micant, non vos pietatis imago 320

Ulla nee adversa conspecti fronte parentes

Commoveant ; voltus gladio turbate verendos.

Sive quis infesto cognata in pectora ferro

Ibit, seu nullum violarit volnere pignus,

Ignoti iugulum tamquam scelus inputet hostis. 325

Sternite iam vallum fossasque inplete ruina.

Exeat ut plenis acies non sparsa maniplis.

Pareite ne castris : vallo tendetis in illo,

Unde acies peritura venit." Vix cuncta locuto

Caesare quemque suum munus trahit, armaque raptim 330

Sumpta Ceresque viris. Capiunt praesagia belli

Calcatisque ruunt castris ; slant ordine nullo,

^ The Saepta (enclosure), called Ovilia (sheepfold) in ii. 197.
was in the Campus Martins ; and there Sulla butchered 6000
prisoners whom he had promised to spare.

2 He refers to the battle described in vi. 290 foil.

39,2

BOOK VII

Saepta and the battle fought in the enclosed
Campus : ^ the general, against whom we carry on
civil war, is Sulla's pupil. My anxiety is for you ;
I shall win safety for myself by suicide ; if any man
looks back before the foe is beaten, he will see me
stabbing my own vitala. Ye gods, whose attention
has been drawn away from heaven by the agony
of Rome on earth, give victory to him who does
not feel bound to draw the ruthless sword against
beaten men, and does not believe that his fellow-
citizens committed a crime by fighting against him.
When Pompey held fast your ranks in a narrow
space where your valour had no power to move, he
glutted his sword with rivers of blood. ^ But this is
my prayer to you, soldiers : none of you must smite
a foe in the back, and every fugitive must pass for
a countryman. But while their weapons glitter, no
thought of natural affection, no sight of your sires
in the front rank of the foe, must weaken your
purpose ; mangle with the sword the faces that
demand reverence. If any man smite the breast
of a kinsman with ruthless steel, let him claim
credit for his crime ; or, if his blow does violence to
no tie of kinship, still let him claim credit for the
death of an unknown foe, as if it were a crime.
Level the rampart without delay and fill up the
trench with the wreckage, that the army may pass
out with full ranks and in solid formation. Be not
careful of your camp; you will find quarters behind
the rampart from which the doomed army is coming."
Almost before Caesar had ceased to speak, each
went to his appointed task ; in haste they armed
and took food. Accepting the omen of victory,
they tread down the fortifications and rush on,

393

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Arte ducis nulla permittuntque omnia fatis.
Si totidem Magni soceros totidemque peteiites
Urbis regna suae funesto in Marte locasses/ 335

Non tam praecipiti ruerent in proelia cursu.
Vidit ut hostiles in rectum exire eatervas
Pompeius nullasque moras permittere bello,
Sed superis placuisse diem, stat corde gelato
Attonitus ; tantoque duel sic arma timere 340

Omen erat. Premit inde metus totumque per agmen
Sublimi praevectus equo^ ^^Quem flagitat " inquit
" Vestra diem virtus, finis civilibus armis.
Quern quaesistis, adest. Totas efFundite vires ;
Extremum ferri superest opus, unaque gentes 345

Hora trahit. Quisquis patriam carosque penates,
Qui subolem ac thalamos desertaque pignora quaerit,
Ense petat : medio posuit deus omnia campo.
Causa iubet melior superos sperare secundos :
Ipsi tela regent per viscera Caesaris, ipsi 350

Romanas sancire volunt hoc sanguine leges.
Si socero dare regna meo mundumque pararent,
Praecipitare meam fatis potuere senectam :
Non iratorum populis urbique deorum est,
Pompeium servare ducem. Quae vincere possent, 356
Omnia contulimus. Subiere pericula clari
Sponte viri sacraque antiquus imagine miles.
Si Curios his fata darent reducesque Camillos

* locasses Orotius : locasset M88,

^ When such men as Curius fought in the ranks.
394

BOOK VII

with no ordered ranks, no tactics on their leader's
part; they leave all to destiny. Had each man
drawn up on the fatal field been the kinsman
of Magnus, and each been ambitious to reign over
his country, they could not have rushed with such
headlong speed to the fray.

When Pompey saw the hostile army sally forth
directly opposite him, to force on a battle without
delay, and realised that this was the day fixed by
Heaven, he stood appalled with frozen blood ; and
to so great a general it was an evil omen that he
should thus dread a conflict. But soon he suppressed
his fears and rode all along the line on his tall war-
horse. '' Behold the day," he said, " which your
courage demands ; behold the welcome end of the
civil war. Put forth your whole strength ; there
remains but one last effort of arms ; a single hour
is dragging all nations into conflict. If any man
yearns for his country and loved home, for wife and
children and dear ones left behind, he must strike
to gain them : Heaven has set all the prizes in the
open field. Our better cause bids us expect the
favour of the gods : they themselves will guide our
weapons through Caesar's heart, they themselves
will wish to ratify the Roman constitution by his
blood. If they intended to give my kinsman rule
over the world, it was in their power to hurry this
grey head into tlie grave ; and, since they have pre-
served my life to command the army, surely they
are not wrath with the nations ' and with Rome.
We have brought together all that could make
victory secure. Famous men have volunteered to
face the danger; and our army has the august
aspect of past times.^ A Curius and a Camillus, and

395

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Temporibus Deciosque caput fatale voventes,

Hinc starent. Primo gentes oriente coactae 360

Innumeraeque urbes, quantas in proelia numquam,

Excivere manus. Toto simul utimur orbe.

Quidquid signiferi conprensum limite caeli

Sub Noton et Borean hominum sumus, arma movemus.

Nonne superfusis collectum cornibus hostem 365

In medium dabimus? paucas victoria dextras

Exigit ; at plures tantum clamore catervae

Bella gerent : Caesar nostris non sufficit armis.

Credite pendentes e summis moenibus urbis

Crinibus effusis hortari in proelia matres ; 370

Credite grandaevum vetitumque aetate senatum

Arma sequi sacros pedibus prosternere canos,

Atque ipsam domini metuentem occurrere Romam ;

Credite, qui nunc est populus populumque futurum

Permixtas adferre preces : haec libera nasci, 376

Haec volt turba mori. Si quis post pignora tanta

Pompeio locus est, cum prole et coniuge supplex.

Imperii salva si maiestate liceret,

Volverer ante pedes. Magnus, nisi vincitis, exul,

Ludibrium soceri, vester pudor, ultima fata 380

Deprecor ac turpes extremi cardinis annos,

Ne discam servire senex." Tam maesta locuti

Voce ducis flagrant animi, Romanaque virtus

Erigitur, placuitque mori, si vera timeret.

^ The inhabitants of the northera hemisphere, from the
tropic of Cancer to the Arctic circle, are meant by this
description : see Housman p 329.

396

BOOK VII

the Decii who devoted their lives to death, if destiny
restored them to our age and brought them back to
earth, would stand on our side. The nations of the
far East and countless cities have gathered together,
and summoned to battle such hordes as were never
seen before ; the whole world is at our disposal at
one time. Our force includes every man, up to
the verge of South and North, who lives enclosed
within the bound of the Zodiac. ^ Shall we not shut
in the whole hostile army, outflanking them with
our wings ? Victory requires but a handful of com-
batants : shouting is the only service that most of
our squadrons will perform : Caesar's force is too
small for ours to deal with. Imagine that the
matrons of Rome are hanging over the topmost walls
of the city with dishevelled hair, and urging you to
battle ; imagine that aged senators, whose years
prevent them from following the camp, lay at your
feet their venerable grey hairs, and that Rome herself,
in her fear of a master, comes to meet you. Imagine
that both generations, the present and the future,
address their joint entreaties to you : the one would
fain be born, and the other die, in freedom. If
after such solemn appeals there is room for my own
name, then, together with my wife and sons, on my
knees I would grovel at your feet, if I could do
it without sullying the dignity of my command.
Unless you conquer, I, Magnus, am an exile, scorned
by my kinsman and a disgrace to you, and I pray to
escape that utmost misery — shame in the closing
years of life, and learning in old age to bear the yoke."
Thus mournful was his speech ; and his voice
kindled bheir courage till Roman valour rose high ;
and they resolved to die, if his fears proved true.

397

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Ergo utrimque pari procurrunt agmina motu 385

Irarum ; metus hos regni, spes excitat illos.
Hae facient dextrae, quidqiiid nona ^ explicat aetas,
Ut vacet a ferro. Gentes Mars iste futuras
Obruet et populos aevi venientis in orbem 390

Erepto natale feret. Tunc omne Latinum
Fabula nomen erit ; Gabios Veiosque Coramque
Pulvere vix tectae poterunt monstrare ruinae
Albanosque lares Lauren tinosque penates,
Rus vacuum, quod non habitet nisi nocte coacta 395

Invitus questusque Numam iussisse senator.
Non aetas haec carpsit edax monimentaque rerum
Putria destituit : crimen civile videmus
Tot vacuas urbes. Generis quo turba redacta est
Humani ! toto populi qui nascimur orbe 400

Nee muros inplere viris nee possumus agros ;
Urbs nos una capit. Vincto fossore coluntur
Hesperiae segetes, stat tectis putris avitis
In nuUos ruitura domus, nulloque frequenteni
Give suo Romam sed mundi faece repletam 405

Cladis eo dedimus, ne tanto in corpore bellum
lam possit civile geri. Pharsalia tanti
Causa mali. Cedant, feralia nomina, Cannae
Et damnata diu Romanis Allia fastis.
Tempora signavit leviorum Roma malorum, 410

Hunc voluit nescire diem. Pro tristia fata!
Aera pestiferum tractu morbosque fluentes

* nona Housman : non MSS.

* Lucan lived in the ninth century from the foundation of
Rome. The lack of men in that age was due, he says, to the
slaughter of Pharsalia.

BOOK VII

Therefore the armies rushed forward, each inspired
with tile same passionate ardour, the one eager to
escape a tyranny, the other to gain it. These hands
will bring it to pass that, whatever the ninth
century ^ unfolds, it shall be free from warfare. This
battle will destroy nations yet unborn ; it will deprive
of their birthtime and sweep away the men of the
generation coming into the world. Then all the
Latin race will be a legend ; dust-covered ruins will
scarce be able to indicate the site of Gabii and Veii
and Cora, the houses of Alba and the dwellings of
Laurentum — a depopulated country, where no man
I dwells except the senators who are forced to spend
one night there by Numa's law which they resent.^
It is not the tooth of time that has wrought this
destruction and consigned to decay the memorials of
the past : in all these uninhabited cities we see the
guilt of civil war. How far reduced are the numbers
of the human race ! All the people born on earth
cannot supply inhabitants for town or country ; a
single city contains us all. The corn-fields of Italy
are tilled by chained labourers ; the ancient roof-tree
is rotten and ready to fall, but none dwell beneath it ;
Rome is not peopled by her own citizens but swarms
with the refuse of mankind, and we have sunk her so
low, that civil war, for all her many inmates, is
no longer possible. Pharsalia is the cause of so
^great a mischief. The fatal names of Cannae and of
Allia, cursed long ago by the Roman Calendar, must
give place to Pharsalia. Rome has marked the date
of lighter calamities, but has decided to ignore this
day. O cruel destiny ! Air fatal to inhale, and

' The Roman consuls had to be present at Alba for the
celebration of the Latin Festival.

399

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Insanamque famem permissasque ignibus urbes

Moeniaque in praeceps laturos plena tremores

Hi possent explere viri, quos undique traxit 415

In miseram Fortuna necem, dum munera longi

Explicat eripiens aevi, populosque ducesque

Constituit campis, per quos tibi, Roma, ruenti

Ostendat, quam magna cadas. Quae latins orbem

Possedit, citius per prospera fata cucurrit ? 420

Omne tibi bellum gentes dedit, omnibus annis

Te geminum Titan procedere vidit in axem ;

Haud miiltum terrae spatium restabat Eoae,

Ut til)i nox, tibi tota dies, tibi curreret aether,

Omniaque errantes stellae Romana viderent. 425

Sed retro tua fata tulit par omnibus annis

Emathiae funesta dies. Hac luce cruenta

Effeetum, ut Latios non horreat India fasces.

Nee vetitos errare Dahas in moenia ducat

Sarmaticumque premat succinctus consul aratrum, 430

Quod semper saevas debet tibi Parthia poenas.

Quod fugiens civile nefas redituraque numquam

Libertas ultra Tigrim Rhenumque recessit

Ac, totiens nobis iugulo quaesita, vagatur,

Germanum Scythicumque bonum, nee respicit ultra 435

Ausoniam, vellem, populis incognita nostris.

Volturis ut primum laevo fundata volatu

Romulus infami conplevit moenia luco.

Usque ad Thessalicas servisses, Roma, ruinas.

De Brutis, Fortuna, queror. Quid tempora legum 440

^ In ancient times it was the business of the consul to trace
out with the plough the limits of a colony planted in a con-
quered country. The Dahae were nomads who wandered over
the plains to the E. of the Caspian.

' He refers to the Brutus who expelled the Tarquins.

400

'

BOOK VII

epidemic disease ; maddening famine, cities consigned
to the flames, and earthquakes that could bring to
ruin populous cities— all these might be glutted by
the men whom Fortune drew from every quarter to
premature death, snatching away the gifts of long
ages even while she displayed them, and arraying
nations and chiefs upon the battle-field ; by them
she wished to show to collapsing Rome, what great-
ness fell with her. What city ever possessed a
wider empire, or ran more quickly from success to
success ? Each war added nations to Rome ; each year
the sun saw her move forward towards either pole ; a
small part of the East excepted, night, and day from
beginning to end, and all the sky revolved for
Rome, and the stars in their courses saw nothing
that was not hers. But the fatal day of Pharsalia
reversed her destiny and undid the work of all the
past. Thanks to that bloody field, India dreads not
the Roman rods, no Roman consul arrests the nomad
Dahae and makes them dwell in cities, or leans on
the plough ^ in Sarmatia with his robe looped up ; it
is owing to Pharsalia that Parthia still owes us
stern retribution, and that Freedom, banished by
civil war, has retreated beyond the Tigris and the
Rhine, never to return ; often as we have wooed her
with our life-blood, she wanders afar, a blessing
enjoyed by Germans and Scythians, and never turns
an eye on Italy : would that our nation had never
known her I Ever since Romulus founded his city
by the flight of a vulture on the left, and peopled it
with the criminals of the Asylum, down to the
catastrophe of Pharsalia, Rome ought to have
remained in slavery. I have a grudge against
Fortune on the score of the Bruti.^ Why did we

401

VOL. I. o

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Egimus aut annos a consule nomen habentes ?

Felices Arabes Medique Eoaque tellus,

Quam sub perpetuis tenuerunt fata tyrannis.

Ex populis qui regna ferunt sors ultima nostra est,

Quos servire pudet. Sunt nobis nulla pro fee to 445

Numina : cum caeco rapiantur saecula casu.

Mentimur regnare lovem. Spectabit ab alio

Aethere Thessalicas, teneat cum fulmina, caedes ?

Scilicet ipse petet Pholoen, petet ignibus Oeten

Inmeritaeque nemus Rhodopes pinusque Mimantis, 450

Cassius hoc potius feriet caput? Astra Thyestae

Intulit et subitis damnavit noctibus Argos :

Tot similes fratrum gladios patrumque gerenti

Thessaliae dabit ille diem ? mortalia nuUi

Sunt curata deo. Cladis tamen huius habemus 455

Vindictam, quantam terris dare numina fas est :

Bella pares superis facient civilia divos ;

Fulminibus manes radiisque ornabit et astris

Inque deum templis iurabit Roma per umbras.

Ut rapid o cursu fati suprema morantem 460

Consumpsere locum, parva tellure dirempti,
Quo sua pila cadant aut quam sibi fata minentur
inde manum, spectant. Vultus, quo noscere posseiit
Facturi quae monstra forent, videre parentum ^
Frontibus adversis fraternaque comminus arma, 465

Nee libuit rautare locum. Tamen omnia torpor

* parentum Housinan : parentes MSS,
403

¥

BOOK VII

enjoy a period of lawful government, or years named
after the consuls? Fortunate are the Arabs and
Medes and Eastern nations, whom destiny has kept
continuously under tyrants. Of all the nations that
endure tyranny our lot is the worst, because we
blush for our slavery. In very truth there are no
gods who govern mankind : though we say falsely
that Jupiter reigns, blind chance sweeps the world
along. Shall Jupiter, though he grasps the thunder-
bolt, look on idly from high heaven at the slaughter
of Pharsalia ? Shall he forsooth aim his fires at
Pholoe and Oeta, at the pines of Mimas and the
innocent forest of Rhodope, and shall Cassius, rather
than he, strike Caesar down ? He brought night upon
Thyestes and doomed Argos to premature darkness ;
will he then grant daylight to Pharsalia that sees
the guilt as great, of so many swords wielded by
brothers and fathers ? Man's destiny has never
been watched over by any god. Yet for this disaster
we have revenge, so far as gods may give satisfaction
to mortals : civil war shall make dead Caesars the
peers of gods above ; and Rome shall deck out dead
men with thunderbolts and haloes and constellations,
and in the temples of the gods shall swear by
ghosts.

When they had traversed at speed the ground
that delayed the fiat of destiny, and were parted
only by a little space, each looked to see where his
own javelin would light, or whose hand on the other
side destiny threatened to use against him. That
they might learn what horrors they were about to
commit, they saw their fathers' faces over against
them and their brothers' weapons close beside them ;
hut they cared not to shift their ground. Never-

40/^

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Pectora constrinxit, gelidusque in viscera sanguis

Percussa pietate coit, totaeque cohortes

Pila parata diu tensis tenuere lacertis.

Di tibi non mortem, quae cunctis poena paratur, 470

Sed sensum post fata tuae dent, Crastine, morti,

Cuius torta manu commisit lancea bellum

Primaque Tiiessaliam Romano sanguine tinxit,

O praeceps rabies ! cum Caesar tela teneret,

Inventa est prior ulla manus ? Tum stridulus aer 475

Elisus lituis conceptaque classica cornu.

Tunc ansae dare signa tubae, tunc aethera tendit

Extremique fragor convexa inrumpit Olympi,

Unde procul nubes, quo nulla tonitrua durant.

Excepit resonis clamorem vallibus Haemus 480

Peliacisque dedit rursus geminare cavemis ;

Pindus agit fremitus, Pangaeaque saxa resultant,

Oetaeaeque gemunt rupes, vocesque furoris

Expavere sui tota tellure relatas.

Spargitur innumerum diversis missile votis : 485

Volnera pars optat, pars terrae figere tela

Ac puras servare manus. Rapit omnia casus,

Atque incerta facit quos volt fortuna nocentes. 483

Tunc et Ityraei Medique Arabesque soluti, 614

Arcu turba minax, nusquam rexere sagittas,

Sed petitur solus qui campis inminet aer.

Inde cadunt mortes. Sceleris sed crimine nullo

Externum maculant chalybem ; stetit omne coactum

Circa pila nefas. Ferro subtexitur aether,

^ Crastinus is a historical person ; he fell in the battle.
404

BOOK VII

theless^ a numbness froze eacli bosom and the blood
gathered cold at each lieart, from the shock to
natural affection ; and whole companies long held
their javelins in rest with rigid muscles. Heaven
punish Crastinus ! ^ and not with death alone, for
that is a punishment in store for all mankind
alike ; but may his body after death keep the power
to feel, because a lance that his hand brandished
began the battle and first stained Pharsalia with
Roman blood. What headlong frenzy! When
Caesar grasped weapons, was any hand found to
anticipate his ? Then a strident blast broke from
the trumpets, and the war-note was sounded by the
horn ; then the clarions dared to give the signal ;
then the uproar mounted skyward and assailed the
dome of furthest Olympus — Olympus, from which
the clouds keep far away, and whither no thunders
reach. The Balkan took up the noise in its echoing
valleys and gave it to the caves of Pelium to repeat ;
Pindus roared, the Pangaean rocks echoed, and the
cliffs of Oeta bellowed, till the armies were terrified
by the sound of their own madness repeated from all
the earth. Countless javelins were hurled, but with
different desires : some pray to deal wounds, and
others to bury their points in the ground and keep
their hands unstained ; but chance and haste are
supreme, and random Fortune makes whom she will
guilty. Next, the Ituraeans and Medes and
free Arabs, formidable archers, shot their arrows
at no mark, aiming only at the sky overhead ; and
from the sky death came down ; but the archers
stained their foreign steel with no guilt — all
the weight of wickedness was confined to the
Roman javelins. The air was veiled with steel, and

405

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Noxque super campos telis conserta pependit. 620

Seel quota pars cladis iaculis ferroque volanti 489

Exacta est ! odiis solus civilibus ensis 490

Sufficit, et dextras Romana in viscera ducit.

Pompei densis acies stipata catervis

lunxerat in seriem nexis umbonibus arma,

Vixque habitura locum dextras ac tela movendi

Constiterat gladiosque suos conpressa timebat. 495

Praecipiti cursu vaesanum Caesaris agmen

In densos agitur cuneos, perque arma, per hostem

Quaerit iter. Qua torta graves lorica catenas

Opponit tutoque latet sub tegmine pectus,

Hac quoque perventum est ad viscera, totque per arma 500

Extremum est, quod quisque ferit. Civilia bella

Una acies patitur, gerit altera ; frigidus inde

Stat gladius, calet omne nocens a Caesare ferrum.

Nee Fortuna diu rerum tot pondera vertens

Abstulit ingentes fato torrente ruinas. 606

Ut priraum toto diduxit cornua campo
Pompeianus eques bellique per ultima fudit,
Sparsa per extremos levis armatura maniplos
Insequitur saevasque manus inmittit in hostem :
lUic quaeque suo miscet gens proelia telo ; 610

Romanus cunctis petitur cruor ; inde sagittae,
Inde faces et saxa volant spatioque solutae
Aeris et calido liquefactae pondere glandes ; 613

Cum Caesar, metueus ne frons sibi prima labaret 621

406

BOOK VII

darkness made by interlacing missiles hung over the
plain. But not much of the slaughter was wrought
by the flying steel of the javelins : the sword alone can
gratify the hate of civil war, and leads the hand to
the hearts of Romans. Pompey's soldiers, closely
packed in serried ranks, had joined their shields^
boss against boss, to form an unbroken line ; they
scarce had room, as they stood, to ply their hands
and weapons, and their close order made their
swords a danger to themselves. With headlong
speed and fury Caesar's men charged the close-
packed columns, forcing a way through shields and
through soldiers. Where the plaited breastplate
presents its heavy rings and the breast is concealed
under the protection of the cuirass, even there the
heart was reached, and what lies beneath all the
armour is the mark of every thrust. One army
endures, and the other inflicts, civil warfare : on
Pompey's side the swords are cold and idle, but
every guilty blade on Caesar's side is hot. And
Fortune, taking little time to work such a mighty
reversal, swept away the vast wreck with the flood
of doom.

When Pompey's cavalry drew their wings apart
over the whole plain and extended them beyond the
flanks of the fighters, at once his light-armed
troops in loose order pressed on through the outmost
ranks and launched fierce hordes against Caesar's
troops. There each people engaged witli its native
weapon, but all alike sought Roman blood ; they
discharge volleys of arrows, firebrands and stones,
and bullets, melted by passing through the air and
fused by their heated weight. But Caesar, fearing
that his front line might be shaken by their attack,

407

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Incursu, tenet obliquas post sigiia cohortes

Inque latus belli, qua se vagus hostis agebat,

Emittit subitum non motis coriiibus agmen.

Inmemores pugnae nulloque pudore timendi 625

Praecipites feeere palam, civilia bella

Non bene barbaricis umquam commissa catervis.

Ut primus sonipes transfixus pectora ferro

In caput efFusi calcavit membra regentis,

Omnis eques cessit campis, glomerataque nubes 630

In sua conversis praeceps ruit agmina frenis.

Perdidit inde modum caedes, ac nulla secuta est

Pugna, sed hinc iugulis, hinc ferro bella geruntur;

Nee valet haee acies tantum prosternere, quantum

Inde perire potest. Utinam, Pharsalia, campis 635

Sufficiat cruor iste tuis, quern barbara fundunt

Pectora, non alio mutentur sanguine fontes ;

Hie numerus totos tibi vestiat ossibus agros.

Aut si Romano conpleri sanguine mavis,

Istis parce, precor ; vivant Galataeque Syrique, 540

Cappadoces Gallique extremique orbis Hiberi,

Armenii, Cilices ; nam post civilia bella

Hie populus Romanus erit. Semel ortus in omnes

It timor, et fatis datus est pro Caesare cursus.

Ventum erat ad robur Magni mediasque catervas. 546
Quod totos errore vago perfuderat agros,
Constitit hie bellum fortunaque Caesaris haesit.
Non illic regum auxiliis collecta iuventus
Bella gerit, ferrumque manus movere rogatae ;
Ille locus fratres habuit^ locus ille parentes. 660

408

BOOK VII

moved the cohorts which he kept at an angle
to his front behind the standards, and suddenly sent
them forward, while the wings stood still, to that
part of the field where the enemy was fighting in
disorder. Forgett ul of battle, unashamed of coward-
ice, the cavalry fled headlong, proving that it is
never safe to trust civil warfare to barbaric hordes.
When the first charger, stabbed in the chest, threw
his rider headlong and trampled on his body, all the
horsemen fled from the field : turning their horses
round, they rushed furiously in a dense cloud against
their own ranks. Unlimited slaughter followed :
there was no battle, but only steel on one side and
throats to pierce on the other. The one army
cannot lay low all of the other that can be slain.
IVould that the blood shed by foreign breasts could
content the plain of Pharsalia, that her springs
could be dyed with no gore but theirs, that their
numbers could clothe all her fields with skeletons !
Or, if she prefers to be glutted with Roman blood,
then let her spare the lives of these — Galatians and
Syrians, Cappadocians and Gauls and remotest
Iberians, Armenians and Cilicians ; for after the
civil war these will be the Roman people. Panic,
when once it began, spread to all ; and free course
was given to destiny in Caesar's favour.

It was now the turn of Pompey's centre, where
his main strength lay. The fight which had ranged
at random all over the field was concentrated here,
and Caesar's fortune received a check. The men
who fought here and plied their weapons were not
brought from many quarters or borrowed by aid of
the kings : here stood the brothers and fathers of
the slayers. This place comprised the rage and

4«>9

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Hie furor, hie rabies, hie sunt tua erimina, Caesar.

Hanc fuge, mens, partem belli tenebrisque relinque,

Nullaque tantorum diseat me vate malorum,

Quam multum bellis liceat civilibus, aetas.

A potius pereant lacrimae pereantque querellae : 555

Quidquid in hac acie gessisti, Roma, tacebo.

Hie Caesar, rabies populis stimulusque furorum,

Ne qua parte sui pereat scelus, agmina circum

It vagus atque ignes animis flagrantibus addit.

Inspicit et gladios, qui toti sanguine manent, 560

Qui niteant primo tantum mucrone cruenti,

Quae presso tremat ense manus, quis languida tela,

Quis Gontenta ferat, quis praestet bella iubenti,

Quem pugnare iuvet, quis voltum cive perempto

Mutet ; obit latis proiecta cadavera campis ; 665

Volnera multorum totum fusura cruorem

Opposita premit ipse manu. Quacumque vagatur,

Sanguineum veluti quatiens Bellona flagellum,

Bistonas aut Mavors agitans, si verbere saevo

Palladia stimulet turbatos aegide currus, 570

Nox ingens scelerum est ; caedes oriuntur, et instar

Inmensae vocis gemitus, et pondere lapsi

Pectoris arma sonant confractique ensibus enses.

Ipse manu subicit gladios ac tela ministrat

Adversosque iubet ferro confundere voltus. 675

Promovet ipse acies, inpellit terga suorum,

Verbere conversae cessantes excitat hastae,

In plebem vetat ire manus monstratque senatum ;

y Lucan makes this promise and then proceeds to break it.

2 Mars is supposed to be urging on his Thraeians against
some tribe, whom Pallas, armed with her shield (the aegis), is
assisting.

410

BOOK VII

madness and wickedness of Caesar. Let my pen
turn away from this phase of the war and leave it to
darkness ; I refuse to tell such horrors, and no age
shall learn from me the full licence of civil war.
Rather let our tears be shed in vain, and our com-
plaints be uttered in vain : of the part that Rome
played in this battle I shall say nothing.^ Here
Caesar, maddening the men and stirring up their
frenzy, moved to and fro round the ranks and added
fuel to the fire of their passion, in order that
wickedness might not anywhere be wrought in vain :
his eye marks whether their blades stream with
blood from point to hilt, or glitter still with only
the points reddened ; whose hand trembles as it
grasps the sword ; whose arm is slack and whose
braced ; who merely obeys the order to fight, and
who delights in it; and who changes countenance
when he has slain a countryman. He visits the
corpses that sprawl on the wide plain ; with his own
hand he staunches the wound that would otherwise
pour out all the blood of many a man. Wherever
he moves, like Bellona brandishing her bloody
scourge, or like Mars urging on the Bistones, when
with fierce blows he lashes on his steeds terrified by
the aegis of Pallas,^ a mighty darkness of crime and
slaughter arises, and a groaning like one great cry,
and a rattle of the breastplate when a man falls
heavily, and a snapping of blade against blade. His
hand supplies fresh swords and provides missiles ;
his voice bids them hack with the steel the faces of
the foe. In person he advances the fighting line
and urges on his rearguard ; he rouses the laggards
with blows from the butt-end of his spear. Bidding
them spare those of low degree, he points out the

411

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Scit, cruor imperii qui sit, quae viscera rerum,

Uiide petat Romam, libertas ultima mundi 680

Quo steterit ferienda loco. Permixta secundo

Ordine nobilitas venerandaque corpora ferro

Urguentur ; caedunt Lepidos caeduntque Metellos

Corvinosque simul Torquataque nomina, rerum

Saepe duces summosque hominum te, Magne, remote. 586

Illic plebeia contectus casside voltus

Ignotusque hosti, quod ferrum, Brute, tenebas !

O decus imperii, spes o suprema senatus,

Extremum tanti generis per saecula nomen,

Ne rue per medios nimium temerarius hostes, 690

Nee tibi fatales admoveris ante Philippos,

Thessalia periture tua. Nil proficis istic

Caesaris intentus iugulo : nondum attigit arcem.

Juris et humani columen, quo cuncta premuutur,

Egressus meruit fatis tam nobile letum, 695

Vivat et, ut Bruti procumbat victima, regnet.

Hie patriae perit omne decus : iacet aggere magno
Patricium campis non mixta plebe cadaver.
Mors taraen eminuit clarorum in strage virorura
Pugnacis Domiti, quem clades fata per omnes 600

Ducebant : nusquam Magni ibrtuna sine illo
Succubuit. Victus totiens a Caesare salva
Libertate perit ; tunc mille in volnera laetus
Labitur ac venia gaudet caruisse secunda.
Viderat in crasso versantem sanguine membra 605

^ Brutus fought in the battle, and we are told by Plutarch
that Caesar, on learning that he had surviv^ed, was relieved
from great anxiety ; but this story, that Brutus disguised
himself as a common soldier in order to stab Caesar on the
field, is a mere invention of Lucan's.

2 For the identification of Pharsalia and Philippi, see n.
to i. 680.

412

BOOK VII

senators. For he knows where the blood of the
empire runs, the pulse of the machine ; he knows in
what quarter Rome must be struck, and the vulner-
able points of Liberty now making her last stand on
earth. Senators mixed with kniglits are borne
down by the steel, and noble corpses lie low ; they
slay Lepidi and Metelli, they slay Corvini together
with the stock of Torquatus — often leaders of the
State, and raised above all men, Magnus alone
excepted. But what did Brutus ^ there, sword in
hand and hiding his face from the foe in the disguise
of a common soldier's helmet .'* O glory of Rome, last
hope of the Senate and last scion of a house famous
throughout our history, rush not too rashly through
the midst of the enemy, nor seek to anticipate tiie
doom of Philippi : death will come to you in a
Pharsalia^ of your own. Your design against
Caesar's life is bootless here : not yet has he attained
the tyrant's stronghold ; not yet has he risen beyond
the lawful summit of human greatness tliat dwarfs all
other things ; and therefore he has not earned from
destiny so glorious a death. Let him live to reign ;
and then let him fall a victim to the dagger of Brutus.
All the glory of our country fell there : the
corpses of the patricians lay in a great heap upon
the field, with no plebeians among them. Yet one
death was most noticeable in that carnage of famous
men — the death of that stubborn warrior, Domitius.
Fate led him from defeat to defeat ; never was he
absent when Pompey's cause was worsted. Though
conquered so often by Caesar, he died without losing
his freedom. Now he fell gladly under a thousand
wounds, and rejoiced not to be pardoned a second
time. Caesar saw him weltering in a pool of blood

413

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Caesar, et increpitans " lam Magni deseris arma,

Successor Domiti ; sine te iam bella geruntur "

Dixerat. Ast illi suffecit pectora pulsans

Spiritus in vocem morientiaque ora resolvit:

" Non te funesta scelerum mercede potitum, 610

Sed dubium fati, Caesar, generoque minorem

Aspiciens Stygias Magno duce liber ad umbras

Et securus eo ; te saevo Marte subactum

Pompeioque graves poenas nobisque daturum.

Cum moriar, sperare licet." Non plura locutura 616

Vita fugit, densaeque oculos pressere tenebrae.

Inp^ndisse pudet lacrimas in funere mundi
Mortibus innumeris, ac singula fata sequentera
Quaerere, letiferum per cuius viscera volnus
Exierit, quis fusa solo vitalia calcet^ 620

Ore quis adverso demissum faucibus ensem
Expulerit moriens anima, quis corruat ictus,
Quis steterit, dum membra cadunt, qui pectore tela
Transmittant, aut quos campis adfixerit hasta,
Quis cruor emissis perruperit aera venis 626

Inque hostis cadat arma sui, quis pectora fratris
Caedat et, ut notum possit spoliare cadaver,
Abscisum longe mittat caput, ora parentis
Quis laceret nimiaque probet spectantibus ira,
Quem iugulat, non esse patrem. Mors nulla querella 630
Digna sua est, nullosque hominum lugere vacamus. ,

Non istas habuit pugnae Pharsalia partes, I

^ Domitius liad been chosen by the Senate to succeed Caesar
in GauL

414

BOOK VII

and taunted him thus : " Domitius, inheritor of my
province/ you are now deserting Pompey's cause ;
you have no part henceforward in the war." Thus
he spoke; and the breath that heaved the other's
breast was enougli for speech, and he opened his
dying hps : " Caesar, you have not grasped the fatal
reward of your guilt : your fate remains uncertain and
you are inferior to your son-in-law ; and seeing your
plight, I go free and untroubled to the Stygian
shades, and Pompey is still my leader. Though I
die, I still can hope that you, borne down in fierce
battle, will pay a heavy reckoning to Pompey and to
me." Before he could say more, life left him and
thick darkness closed his eyes.

Where a whole world died, it were shame to spend
tears upon any of a myriad deaths, or to follow the fate
of individuals and ask, through whose vitals the death-
dealing sword passed, who trod upon his own entrails
poured out upon the ground, who faced the foe and
dying drove out with his last gasp the blade buried in
his throat. Some fell to earth when stricken ; others
stood upright while their arms were lopped off; the
weapon passed right through the breasts of some,
while others were pinned to the ground by the
spear ; the blood of some, pouring from the veins,
spouted through the air and fell on the armour of
their foes ; one man pierced a brother's breast, and
then cut off the head and hurled it to a distance,
that he might be able to rob the kindred corpse,
while another mangled his father's face and tried
by excess of fury to convince the eye-witnesses that
his victim was not his father. But no death deserves
a lament to itself, and we have no leisure to mourn
any individual. Pharsalia played a different part in

415

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Quas aliae clades : illic per fata virorum,
Per populos hie Roma peril ; quod militis illic,
Mors hie gentis erat ; sanguis ibi fluxit Achaeus, 635
Ponticus, Assyrius ; eunctos liaerere cruores
Romanus campisque vetat consistere torrens.
Maius ab hac acie quam quod sua saeeula ferrent
Volnus habent populi ; plus est quam vita salusque
Quod perit : in totum mundi prosternimur aevum. 640
Vincitur his gladiis omnis quae serviet aetas.
Proxima quid suboles aut quid meruere nepotes
In regnum nasci? pavide num gessimus arma
Teximus aut iugulos ? alieni poena timoris
In nostra cervice sedet. Post proelia natis 646

Si dominum, Fortuna, dabas, et bella dedisses.
lam Magnus transisse deos Romanaque fata
Senserat infelix^ tota vix clade coactus
Fortunam damnare suam. Stetit aggere campi,
Eminus unde omnes sparsas per Thessala rura 660

Aspiceret clades, quae bello obstante latebant.
Tot telis sua fata peti, tot corpora fusa
Ac se tam multo pereuntem sanguine vidit.
Nee, sicut mos est miseris, trahere omnia secum
Mersa iuvat gentesque suae miscere ruinae : 666

Ut Latiae post se vivat pars maxima turbae,
Sustinuit dignos etiamnunc credere votis
Caelicolas vovitque, sui solacia casus.
416

BOOK VII

battle from all other defeats : in them Rome suffered
by the death of men, but here she was destroyed by
the death of nations ; a people died here, for
every soldier there ; here tlie blood of Achaea,
Pontus, and Assyria was poured out, and all that
bloodshed the torrent of Roman gore forbids to
linger and stagnate on the field. A blow too heavy
for their own age to bear was dealt to all nations by
this battle : more was lost there than mere life and
existence : we were overthrown for all time to
come ; all future generations doomed to slavery
were conquered by those swords. For what fault
of their own were the sons or grandsons of the
combatants at Pharsalia born to slavery.'* Did we
play the coward in battle or screen our throats from
the sword ? The penalty of cowardice not our own
is fastened upon our necks. To us, born after that
battle. Fortune gave a master; she should have
given us also the chance to fight for freedom.

By now Magnus, unhappy man, was aware that
Heaven and the destiny of Rome had gone over to
the enemy, though the full extent of the disaster
could scarce compel him to despair of his fortunes.
Far off* on a rising ground he stayed, to see from
there the carnage spread through the land of
Thessaly, which the battle had hidden from his
sight ; he saw all the missiles aimed at his life, and
all the prostrate corpses ; he saw himself dying with
all that bloodshed. But he desired not, as the
wretched often do, to draw all things in destruc-
tion after him and make mankind share his ruin.
Deigning to consider Heaven even yet worthy of his
prayers, he consoled himself in calamity by praying
that the most of the Romans might survive him.

417

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

" Parcite," ait "superi, cunctas prosternere genres.
Stante potest mundo Komaque superstite Magnus 660
Esse miser. Si plura iuvant mea volnera, coniunx
Est mihi, sunt nati ; dedimus tot pignora fatis.
Civiline parum est bello, si meque meosque
Obruit ? exiguae clades sumus orbe remoto ?
Omnia quid laceras ? quid perdere cuncta laboras ? 665
lam nihil est, Fortuna, meum." Sic fatur et arma
Signaque et adflictas omni iam parte catervas
Circumit et revocat matura in fata ruentes
Seque negat tanti. Nee derat robur in enses
Ire duci iuguloque pati vel pectore letum ; 670

Sed timuit, strato miles ne corpore Magni
Non fugeret, supraque ducem procumberet orbis ;
Caesaris aut oculis voluit subducere mortem.
Nequiquam, infelix : socero spectare volenti
Praestandum est ubicumque caput. Sed tu quoque,

coniunx, 676
Causa fugae voltusque tui fatisque negatum
Parte absente ^ mori. Turn Magnum concitus aufert
A bello sonipes non tergo tela paventem
Ingentesque animos extrema in fata ferentem.
Non gemitus, non fletus erat, salvaque verendus 680
Maiestate dolor, qualem te, Magne, decebat
Romanis praestare malis. Non inpare voltu
Aspicis Emathiam : nee te videre superbum
Prospera bellorum nee fractum adversa videbunt ;
Quamque fuit laeto per tres infida triumphos 685

^ I'arte absente Housman : Te praesente M8S.
418

BOOK VII

"Stop here, ye gods," he said, "^and refrain from
destroying all nations. The world may remain and
Rome survive, though Magnus is doomed. If you
desire to add to my afflictions, I have a wife, I have
sons ; all these hostages have I given to fortune.
Is civil war still unsatisfied, if it destroy me and
mine? Is our overthrow not enough, unless the
world be added? Why does Fortune mangle all
things and seek universal destruction ? Nothing
is left now of my own." Thus he spoke, and
rode round his army and the standards and the
troops now shattered on every hand, recalling them
from rushing upon instant death, and saying that he
was not worth the sacrifice. He lacked not the
courage to confront the swords and offer throat or
breast to the fatal blow ; but he feared that, if he
lay low, his soldiers would refuse to flee and the
whole world would be laid upon the body of their
leader; or else he wished to remove his death from
Caesar's sight. Vain hope, alas ! If his kinsman
desires to look upon that head, it must be presented
to him in any and every land. And there was
another cause for his flight — his wife and her loved
face, and the decree of fate that he should not die
with part of himself absent. Then Magnus rode
swiftly from the field, fearing not the missiles behind
him but moving with high courage to his final doom.
There was no lamentation nor tears — only a noble
sorrow with no loss of dignity, such a sorrow as the
calamities of Rome deserved to receive from Magnus.
With countenance unchanged he beholds Pharsalia;
victory never saw him lifted up, and defeat shall
never see him cast down ; and treacherous Fortune,
who found him her superior at the time of his three

419

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Tarn misero Fortuna minor. lam pondere fati

Deposito securus abis ; nunc tempora laeta

Respexisse vacat ; spes numquam inplenda recessit ;

Quid fueriSj nunc scire licet. Fuge proelia dira

Ac testare deos nullum, qui perstet in armis, 690

lam tibi, Magne, mori. Ceu flebilis Africa damnis

Et ceu Munda nocens Pharioque a gurgite clades.

Sic et Thessalicae post te pars maxima pugnae

Non lam Pompei nomen populare per orbem

Nee studium belli, sed par quod semper habemus, 695

Libertas et Caesar erit ; teque inde fugato

Ostendit moriens sibi se pugnasse senatus.

Nonne iuvat pulsum bellis cessisse nee istud
Perspectasse nefas? spumantes caede catervas
Respice, turbatos incursu sanguinis amnes, 700

Et soceri miserere tui. Quo pectore Romam
Intrabit factus campis felicior istis?
Quidquid in ignotis solus regionibus exul,
Quidquid sub Phario positus patiere tyranno,
Crede deis, longo fatorum crede favori, 706

Vincere peius erat. Prohibe lamenta sonare,
Flere veta populos, lacrimas luctusque remitte.
Tarn mala Pompei quam prospera mundus adoret.
Aspice securus voltu non supplice reges,
Aspice possessas urbes donataque regna, 710

Aegypton Libyamque, et terras elige morti.
420

BOOK VII

triumphs, is as far beneath him now in his fall. He
goes away free from care, having laid down the
burden Fate put upon him ; now he has leisure to
look back at past happiness ; and hope, never to be
fulfilled, has departed ; now he can realise what once
he was. Let him flee from the fatal field, and call
Heaven to witness that those who continue the fight
are no longer giving their lives for Pompey. Like
the woeful losses in Africa, like guilty Munda and
the slaughter by the Nile, so most of the fighting at
Pharsalia, after Pompey's departure, ceased to repre-
sent the world's love of Pompey or the passion for
war : it was tlie never-ending contest between Free-
dom and Empire ; and when Pompey had fled from
Pharsalia, the senators proved by dying that they
had fougiit in their own quarrel.

Is it not happiness to you, Pompey, to have with-
drawn defeated from the battle, without witnessing
that horror to its close ? Look back on the ranks
reeking with carnage, and the rivers darkened by
the inrush of blood, and then pity your kinsman.
With what feelings will he enter Home, owing his
good fortune to yonder field ? Whatever you have
yet to endure, as a lonely exile in strange lands or
at the mercy of the Egyptian king, take the word of
Heaven and Fortune so long favourable : victory
was worse than defeat. Forbid the sound of lamenta-
tion and stop the mourning of mankind ; forgo their
tears and grief. The world must bow before Pompey
in his misfortune as they bowed before his success.
Calmly and with no petitionary aspect look upon the
kings, look upon the cities you took and the thrones
of Egypt and Africa which you gave, and choose a
land to die in.

421

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Vidit prima tuae testis Larisa ruinae
Nobile nee victum fatis caput. Omnibus ilia
Civibus efFudit totas per moenia vires
Obvia ceu laeto : promittunt munera flentes, 715

Pandunt templa, domos, socios se cladibus optant.
Scilicet inmenso superest ex nomine multum,
Teque minor solo cunctas inpellere gentes
Rursus in arma potes rursusque in fata redire.
Sed " quid opus victo populis aut urbibus ? " inquit 720
" Victori praestate fidem." Tu, Caesar, in alto
Caedis adhuc cumulo patriae per viscera vadis.
At tibi iam populos donat gener. Avehit inde
Pompeium sonipes ; gemitus lacrimaeque secuntur
Plurimaque in saevos populi convicia divos. 725

Nunc tibi vera fides quaesiti, Magne, favoris
Contigit ac fructus : felix se nescit amari.

Caesar, ut Hesperio vidit satis arva natare
Sanguine, parcendum ferro manibusque suorum
lam ratus ut viles animas perituraque frustra 730

Agmina permisit vitae. Sed castra fugatos
Ne revocent pellatque quies nocturna pavorem,
Protinus hostili statuit succedere vallo,
Dum fortuna calet, dum conficit omnia terror,
Non veritus, grave ne fessis aut f Marte subactisj ^ 736
Hoc foret imperium. Non magno hortamine miles
In praedam ducendus erat. " Victoria nobis
Plena, viri," dixit " superest pro sanguine merces,

1 The words obelised must be corrupt : they could only mean
**or conquered in war."

422

BOOK VII

Larisa was the first witness of his fallen greatness —
the first to behold that noble head unconquered by
disaster. She poured out all her population through
her gates, and met him like a conqueror with all her
inhabitants ; with tears they promise gifts, they
open their temples and houses, they pray to share
his defeat. In truth much remains of that boundless

.fame; with no superior except his former self, he

^^ might again rouse all nations to battle and resume
his victorious course. But he refused : " What need

i-has a conquered man of nations or cities ? Offer
your loyalty to the conqueror." While Caesar is
still treading on corpses piled high and marching
over the very life of his country, he receives from
his kinsman nations as a gift. When Pompey rode
away from Larisa, the cries and tears of the people
followed him, and many a reproach against the

« cruelty of Fleaven. That day gave proof to Pompey
of the favour he had gained, and gave him enjoyment
of it : the prosperous are never sure that they are
loved for themselves.

When Caesar saw that the fields were flooded deep
enough with Italian blood, he thought it time to

. restrain the sword in the hands of his soldiers, and
suffered to survive the worthless lives by whose
death he had nothing to gain. But fearing that
their camp would rally the fugitives, and that a
night's rest would dispel their fears, he decided to
march at once up to the enemy's rampart, and to
strike while the iron was hot and panic irresistible.

^ He felt no fear that this command would be grievous
to his weary veterans. The soldiers needed but
little encouragement to lead them to plunder. " Our
victory is complete, my men," he said ; " all that

423

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Quam monstrare meura est ; neque enim donare vocabo,

Quod sibi quisque dabit. Cunctis en plena metallis 740

Castra patent ; raptum Hesperiis e gentibus aurum

Hie iacet, Eoasque preraunt tentoria gazas.

Tot regum fortuna simul Magnique coacta

Expectat dominos : propera praecedere^ miles,

Quos sequeris ; quascumque tuas Pharsalia fecit 746

A victis rapiuntur opes." Quae fossa, quis agger

Sustineat jn-etium belli scelerumque petentes? 760

Scire vuunt, quanta fuerint mercede nocentes.

Invenere quidem spoliato plurima mundo

Bellorum in sumptus congestae pondera massae ;

Sed non inplevit cupientes omnia mentes.

Quidquid fodit Hiber, quidquid Tagus expuit auri, 765

Quod legit dives summis Arimaspus harenis,

Ut rapiant, parvo scelus hoc venisse putabunt.

Cum sibi Tarpeias victor despondent arces.

Cum spe Romanae promiserit omnia praedae,

Decipitur, quod castra rapit. Capit inpia plebes 760

Caespite patricio somnos, stratumque cubile

Regibus infandus miles premit, inque parentum

Inque toris fratrum posuerunt membra nocentes.

Quos agitat vaesana quies, somnique furentes

Thessalicam miseris versant in pectore pugnam. 765

Invigilat cunctis saevum scelus, armaque tota

Mente agitant, capuloque manus absente moventur.

424

BOOK VII

remains is the reward for our blood; and that re-
ward it is for me to point out — I shall not speak of
bestowing what each of you will give to himself.
Before you lies their camp, filled with all precious
metals : the gold robbed from the Western nations
is piled there, and their tents are crammed with the
treasures of the East. The wealth of so many kings
and the wealth of Magnus are here gathered together,
waiting for owners. Make haste to outstrip the
fugitives ; all the riches that Pharsalia has made
yours are being seized by the vanquished." What
trench, what rampart, could withstand men who
sought the reward of victory and crime? They are
wild to know what the wages of their wickedness
amount to. They found indeed many a mass of
metal, collected from a plundered world to defray
the cost of war ; but these could not glut their
boundless avarice. Even if they seized all the gold
mined by Spaniards or thrown up by the Tagus or
gathered from the surface of the sand by rich Ari-
maspians, still they would consider their crime poorly
paid. They counted on the Tarpeian citadel as their
own in case of victory; they had promised their
utmost to their leader in hope of sacking Rome ;
and they are disappointed by the pillage of a mere
camp. Base-born and bloodstained, they slept on
the turf piled for patricians ; the infamous rank and
file lay down on couches prepared for kings ; and
the guilty rested their limbs where their fathers
and brothers had slept. But a night of madness
disturbed their rest, and frenzied dreams kept the
battle of Pharsalia ever before their tortured minds.
Their pitiless crime is awake in every heart, their
whole mind is busy with battle, and their hands

425

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Ingemuisse putem campos, terramque noceiitem

Inspirasse animas, infectumque aera totum

Manibus et superam Stygia formidine noctem. 770

Exigit a mentis tristes victoria poenas,

Sibilaque et flammas infert sopor. Umbra perempti

Civis adest ; sua quemque premit terroris imago :

Ille senum voltus, iuvenum videt ille figuras,

Hunc agitant totis fraterna cadavera somnis, 775

Pectore in hoc pater est, omnes in Caesare manes.

Haud alios nondum Scythica purgatus in ara

Eumenidum vidit voltus Pelopeus Orestes,

Nee magis attonitos animi sensere tumultus.

Cum fureret, Pentheus, aut, cum desisset, Agave. 780

Hunc omnes gladii, quos aut Pharsalia vidit

Aut ultrix visura dies stringente senatu.

Ilia nocte premunt, hunc infera monstra flagellant.

Et quantum poenae misero mens conscia donat,

Quod Styga, quod manes ingestaque Tartara somnis 785

Pompeio vivente videt ! Tamen omnia passo,

Postquam clara dies Pharsalica damna retexit,

Nulla loci facies revocat feralibus arvis

Haerentes oculos. Cernit propulsa cruore

Flumina et excelsos cumulis aequantia colles 790

Corpora, sidentes in tabem spectat acervos

Et Magni numerat populos, epulisque paratur

Ille locus, voltus ex quo faciesque iacentum

426

BOOK VII

that grasp no hilt are never still. I can well believe
that the battle-field sent forth a cry, and that the
guilty soil breathed its airs upon them ; that all the
sky was tainted by the dead, and the night of the
upper world darkened with the terrors of Hell.
Their victory justly demands grim retribution; sleep
brings flames and hissing of serpents against them.
The ghost of a slain countryman stands by the bed ;
each man has a different shape of terror to haunt
him : one sees the faces of old men, another the
forms of youths ; one is disturbed all night by his
brother's corpse, another's breast is weighed down
by his father's ghost , but all the ghosts alike attack
Caesar. Even so Pelopean Orestes beheld the faces
of the Furies, before he was purified at the Scythian
altar; nor did Pentheus in his madness, or Agave,
when she had returned to her senses, feel more
horror and disturbance of mind. All the swords
that Pharsalia saw, and all that the day of vengeance
was to see drawn by the Senate, were aimed at
Caesar's breast that night; and the monsters of
Hell scourged him. And yet his guilt excused the
wretch great part of his penalty ; for when Caesar
beheld the Styx and its ghosts and all Hell let
loose upon his sleep, Pompey was still alive. All
this he suffered; and yet, when daylight revealed
the casualties of Pharsalia, no feature of the land
recalled his eyes from dwelling on the fatal field.
He sees rivers running fast with gore, and heaps of
corpses like high hills ; he beholds the piles of dead
settling down into corruption, and counts the nations
that followed Magnus ; and a spot, from which he
can recognise the faces and features of the dead, is
prepared for his feasting. He rejoices that he can-

427

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Agnoscat. luvat Emathiam non ceinere terram

Et lustrare oculis campos sub clade latentes. 795

Fortunam superosque suos in sanguine cernit.

Ac ne laeta furens scelerum specti?cula perdat,

Invidet igne rogi miseris caeloque nocenti

Ingerit Emathiam. Non ilium Poenus humator

Consulis et Libyca suecensae lampade Cannae 800

Conpellunt, hominum ritus ut servet in hoste,

Sed meminit nondum satiata caedibus ira,

Cives esse suos. Petimus non singula busta

Discretosque rogos : unum da gentibus ignem,

Non interpositis urantur corpora flammis ; 806

Aut, generi si poena iuvat, nemus extrue Pindi,

Erige congestas Oetaeo robore silvas,

Thessalicam videat Pompeius ab aequore flammam.

Nil agis hac ira : tabesne cadavera solvat

An rogus, baud refert ; placido natura receptat 810

Cuncta sinu^ finemque sui sibi corpora debent.

Hos, Caesar^ populos si nunc non usserit ignis,

Uret cum terris, uret cum gurgite ponti.

Communis mundo superest rogus ossibus astra

Mixturus. Quocumque tuam fortuna vocabit, 816

Hae quoque sunt animae : non altius ibis in auras,

Non meliore loco Stygia sub nocte iacebis.

Libera fortunae mors est ; capit omnia tellus.

Quae genuit ; caelo tegitur, qui non liabet urnam.

^ Hantiibal gave honourable burial to Aemilius Paullus who
had fallen in the battle of Cannae.

* The Stoics taught that the world would be destroyed by
fire.

428

«&«v

BOOK VII

not see the soil of Emathia, and that the plain
which his eyes pass over is hidden by carnage. In
bloodshed he sees his victorious fortune and the
favour of Heaven. And in his madness, loath to
lose the welcome sight of his wickedness, he denies
the wretches a pyre and thrusts the sight of Phar-
saHa upon the guilty gods. When the Carthaginian
buried a consul,^ Cannae was lit up by African
torches ; but that example did not move Caesar to
observe the rule of humanity in treatment of the
foe : hifi rage is not yet glutted with the slaughter,
and he remembers that the men are his own country-
men. We ask not a pyre for each or a separate
burning : provide a single fire for all ; let the bodies
be burnt with one continuous flame ; or, if you wish
to punish your kinsman, pile up the timber from
Pindus and build aloft all the oak-trees from Oeta's
forests, that Pompey may see from his ship the
blaze of Pharsalia. But Caesar's rage is bootless :
it matters not whether the corpses are burnt on the
pyre or decompose with time ; nature finds room for
them all in her gentle arms, and the dead owe their
end to themselves alone. If fire does not consume
this host now, it will consume them hereafter,^
together with the earth and the waters of the sea ;
there remains a conflagration which will destroy all
the world and bring the stars and dead men's bones
together. Wliithersoever destiny summons your
spirit, Caesar, there the spirits of these men are
also : you will not soar higher than they, you will
not find any better place, if you lie in Stygian
darkness. The dead are free from Fortune ; Mother
Earth has room for all her children, and he who
lacks an urn has the sky to cover him. But you,

429

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Tu, cui dant poenas inhumato funere gentes, 820

Quid fugis banc cladem ? quid olentes deseris agros ?
Has trahe^ Caesar, aquas ; hoc, si potes, utere caelo.
Sed tibi tabentes populi Pharsalica rura
Eripiunt camposque tenent victore fugato.

Non solum Haemonii funesta ad pabula belli 826

Bistonii venere lupi tabemque cruentae
Caedis odorati Pholoen liquere leones.
Tunc ursae latebras, obscaeni tecta domosque
Deseruere canes, et quidquid nare sagaci
Aera non sanum motumque cadavere sentit. 830

lamque diu volucres civilia castra secutae
Conveniunt. Vos, quae Nilo mutare soletis
Threicias hiemes, ad mollem serius Austrum
Istis, aves. Numquam tanto se volture caelum
Induit aut plures presserunt aera pinnae. 835

Omne nemus misit volucres, omnisque cruenta
Alite sanguineis stillavit roribus arbor.
Saepe super voltus victoris et inpia signa
Aut cruor aut alto defluxit ab aethere tabes,
Membraque deiecit iam lassis unguibus ales. 840

Sic quoque non omnis populus pervenit ad ossa
Inque feras discerptus abit ; non intima curant
Viscera nee totas avide sorbere medullas :
Degustant artus. Latiae pars maxima turbae
Fastidita iacet, quam sol nimbique diesque 845

Longior Emathiis resolutam miscuit arvis.
Thessalia, infelix, quo tantum crimine, tellus,

430

BOOK VII

who punish the nations by refusing them burial,
why do you flee this carnage and abandon these
pestilential fields? Drink this water, Caesar, and
breathe this air, if you can. No : the nations that
turn to corruption there rob you of Pharsalia : they
have routed the conqueror and possess the field.

The Bistonian wolves came to the grisly feast
afforded by the battle in Thessaly, and the lions
left Pholoe when they scented out the corruption
of the slain. And not they alone; but bears left
their dens, obscene dogs came from the dwellings
and houses of men, and every creature that per-
ceives by the power of scent air that is unwhole-
some and tainted with death. The birds that long
had followed the armies of civil war now flocked
together. The cranes that each year leave the
Thracian winter for the Nile were late in migrating
to the warm south. Never did the sky clothe itself
with such a host of vultures ; never did more wings
beat the air. Every wood sent its birds, and when
the birds were bloodstained, every tree dripped
with a crimson dew. Rotting flesh or drops of
blood often fell from the sky upon the face and
accursed standards of the conqueror, when the
birds grew weary and dropt the dead limbs from
- their talons. But even so not all that host was
picked to the bones or torn and devoured by beasts :
» bird and beast pay no heed to the inmost organs,
^''"'and are not eager to suck all the marrow of the
J bones ; they merely taste the limbs. Most of the
Roman dead they left to lie unheeded ; but sun and
rain and time dissolved their bodies and blended
them with the soil of Thessaly.

Unhappy land of Thessaly ! what sin of yours

431

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Laesisti superos, ut te tot mortibus unam.

Tot scelerum fatis premerent ? quod sufficit aevum,

Inmemor ut donet belli tibi damna vetustas ? 850

Quae seges infecta surget non decolor herba?

Quo non Romanos violabis vomere manes ?

Ante novae venient acies, scelerique secundo

Praestabis nondum siccos hoc sanguine campos.

Omnia maiorum vertamus busta licebit 855

Et stantes tumulos et qui radice vetusta

Effudere suas victis conpagibus urnas.

Plus cinerum Haemoniae sulcis telluris aratur,

Pluraque ruricolis feriuntur dentibus ossa.

NuUas ab Emathio religasset litore funem 860

Navita, nee terram quisquam movisset arator,

Romani bustum populi, fugerentque coloni

Umbrarum campos, gregibus dumeta carerent,

Nullusque auderet pecori permittere pastor

Vellere surgentem de nostris ossibus herbam, 866

Ac, velut inpatiens hominum vel solis iniqui

Limite vel glacie, nuda atque ignota iaceres.

Si non prima nefas belli sed sola tulisses.

O superi, liceat terras odisse nocentes.

Quid totum premitis, quid totum absolvitis orbem ? 870

Hesperiae clades et flebilis unda Pachyni

Et Mutina et Leucas puros fecere Philippos.

» The battle of Philippi.

« He refers to the following episodes of the Civil Wars:
(1) the battle of Munda in Spain (45 B.C.) ; (2) the naval
victories of Agrippa over Sextus Pompeius oflF Sicily in 36 B.C. ;

(3) the fighting round Mutina (now Modena) in 43 B.C. ; and

(4) the battle of Actium in 31 B.C.

* Pharsalia is called Philippi ; see n. to i. 680.

433

BOOK VII

offended the gods so grievously that they visited
you beyond otiier lands with such a holocaust of
victims and such a myriad of deaths in civil war?
No lapse of time is long enough to make posterity
forget and forgive the losses which your battle
wrought; each crop will rise discoloured and with
tainted blades from your soil ; and all your plough-
shares will do violence to Roman dead. Mean-
while, fresh armies will meet, and you will offer your
plains for a second crime ^ before this blood has
dried off them. Though we empty out all the
tombs of our ancestors — both those that are still
erect, and those which, when their masonry was
split by ancient roots, spilt their urns—yet the
plough turns up more relics in the furrows of
Thessaly, and the harrows that till those fields
strike against more bones. No sailor would fasten
his cable to the shore of Thessaly ; no plough-
man would stir the soil where the Roman people
lies buried; the husbandmen would flee from
the haunted plains ; the thickets would shelter no
flocks, and no shepherd would dare to let his sheep
crop the grass that grows from Roman bones —
Thessaly would be an unknown desert, as if icy cold
or the zone of oppressive heat made it unfit for
habitation, if it had been the only land, and not
merely the first, to be the scene of civil war. Ye
gods, give us the power to curse the country
that is guilty. Why do ye condemn all the
world, and so acquit it all? The slaughter in the
West and the mournful sea of Pachynum, Mutina
and Leucas,2 have washed away the guilt of
Philippi.8

433

VOL. I. P

BOOK VIII

LIBER OCTAVUS

Iam super Herculeas fauces nemorosaque Tempe

Haemoniae deserta petens dispendia silvae

Cornipedem exhaustum cursu stimulisque negantem

Magnus agens incerta fugae vestigia turbat

Inplieitasque errore vias. Pavet ille fragorem 6

Motorum ventis nemorum, comitumque suorum

Qui post terga redit trepidum laterique timentem

Exanimat. Quamvis summo de culmine lapsus

Nondum vile sui pretium scit sanguinis esse,

Seque, memor fati, tantae mercedis habere 10

Credit adhuc iugulum, quantam pro Caesaris ipse

Avolsa cervice daret. Deserta sequentem

Non patitur tutis fatum celare latebris

Clara viri facies. Multi, Pharsalica castra

Cum peterent nondum fama prodente ruinas, 15

Occursu stupuere ducis vertigine rerum

Attoniti, cladisque suae vix ipse fidelis

Auctor erat. Gravis est Magno, quicumque malorura

Testis adest. Cunctis ignotus gentibus esse

Mallet et obscuro tutus transire per urbes 20

Nomine ; scd poenas longi Fortuna favoris

Exigit a misero, quae tanto pondere famae

* Legend said that Hercules had cleft the mountains and
formed the Vale of Tempe: comp. vi, 347. "Beyond" means
' ' further from the sea."

436

BOOK VIII

And now beyond wooded Tempe, the Gorge of
Hercules,^ Magnus made by circuitous paths for
the lonely forests of Thessaly ; as he urged on his
horse which was worn out by rapid flight and deaf
to the spur, he confused the traces of his retreat
and made a labyrinth of his tracks. He dreads the
sound of the trees in the wind ; and any of his
comrades who falls back to join him causes him
terror in his agitation and fear for his own person.
Though fallen from his lofty eminence, he knows
that the price of his blood is still high ; and, mind-
ful of his career, he believes that his death can
still earn as great a reward as he himself would
give for the severed head of Caesar. Though he
seeks solitude, his known features suffer him not
to hide his disaster in safe concealment. Many who
were on their way to the camp at Pharsalia, before
rumour had published his defeat abroad, were
startled to meet their leader and astounded by the
sudden change of fortune ; and he was scarcely
believed when" he reported his own defeat. The
presence of any witness of his woes was grievous
to him. He would choose to be unknown to all
nations, and to pass safely through the cities with
a name unknown to fame ; but Fortune, who long
had favoured him, now demands from her victim
the penalty of that favour ; she throws all the weight

437

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Res premit adversas fatisque prioribus urguet.

Nunc festinatos nimium sibi sentit honores

v\ctaque lauriferae damnat Sullana iuventaCj 26

Nunc et Corycias classes et Pontica signa

Deiectum meminisse piget. Sic longius aevum

Destruit ingentes animoi. et vita superstes

Imperio. Nisi summa dies cum fine bonorum

Adfuit et celeri praevertit tristia leto^ 30

Dedecori est fortuna prior. Quisquamne secundis

Tradere se fatis audet nisi morte parata ?

Litora contigerat, per quae Peneius amnis
Emathia iam clade rubens exibat in aequor.
Inde ratis trepidum ventis ac fluctibus inpar, 35

Flumineis vix tuta vadis^ evexit in altum.
Cuius adhuc remis quatitur Corcyra sinusque
Leucadii, Cilicum dominus terraeque Liburnae
Exiguam vector pavidus correpsit in alnum.
Conscia curarum secretae in litora Lesbi 40

Flectere vela iubet, qua tunc tellure latebas
Maestior, in mediis quam si, Cornelia, campis
Emathiae stares. Tristes praesagia curas
Exagitant, trepida quatitur formidine somnus,
Thessaliam nox omnis habet ; tenebrisque remotis 45
Rupis in abruptae scopulos extremaque curris
Litora ; proypiciens fluctus nutantia longe
Semper prima vides venientis vela carinae,
Quaerere nee quidquam de fate coniugis audes.
En ratis, ad vestros quae tendit carbasa portus ! 60

^ Corycus is a promontory in Cilicia.
2 1.6. "the battle-field."

438

BOOK VIII

of his renown into the scale of adversity and crushes
him beneath his former successes. Now he feels
that his honours came too quick upon him ; now he
curses the exploits of his triumphant youth in
Sulla's day ; now he hates in his fall to remember
the fleets of Cilicia^ and the armies of Pontus.
Thus length of days and life surviving power humble
the proudest heart. Unless the end of life comes
together with the end of happiness, and anticipates
sorrow by speedy death, past greatness is a mockery.
Does any dare to trust prosperity, except he has the
means of death at hand ?

He had reached the shore where the river Peneus,
already red with the slaughter of Pharsalia, passed
out into the sea. From there a boat, no match for
winds and waves and scarcely safe in the shallow
river, bore him out trembling over the deep. He
whose oars still churn the waters of Corcyra and
the bays of Leucas, he, the lord of the Cilicians
and the Liburnian land, slinks as a frightened
passenger into a little boat. He bids them bend
the sail towards the distant shore of Lesbos — the
shore entrusted with his loved Cornelia ; in that land
she was hidden, but she was sadder than if she had
stood in the centre of Pharsalia's field. For her
sorrow is intensified by forebodings, and her sleep
broken by anxious fears. Every night brings Phar-
salia 2 before her ; and, when darkness disappears,
she hastens to the peak of a steep cliff at the shore's
edge and looks out over the waves ; she is always
the first to see the sails of an approaching vessel
dipping in the distance, but she dare ask no question
concerning her husband's fate. But see ! a ship
spreading her sail towards the harbours of Lesbos ]

439

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Quid ferat, ignoras, et nunc tibi summa pavoris

Nuntius armorum tristis rumorque sinister.

Victus adest coniunx. Quid perdis tempora luctus?

Cum possis iam flere, times. Turn puppe propinqua

Prosiluit crimcnque deum crudele notavit, 65

Deformem pailore dueem voltusque prementem

Canitiem atque atro squalentes pulvere vestes.

Obvia nox miserae caelum lucemque tenebris

Abstulit, atque animam clausit dolor ; omnia nervis

Membra relicta labant, riguerunt corda, diuque 60

Spe mortis decepta iacet. Iam fune ligato

Litoribus lustrat vacuas Pompeius harenas.

Quem postquam propius famulae videre fideles,

Non ultra gemitus tacitos incessere fatum

Permisere sibi^ friistraque attollere terra 65

Semianimem conantur eram ; quam pectore Magnus

Ambit et astrictos refovet conplexibus artus.

Coeperat in summum revocato sanguine corpus

Pompei sentire manus maestamque mariti

Posse pati faciem : prohibet succumbere fatis 70

Magnus et inmodicos castigat voce dolores :

" Nobile cur robur fortunae volnere primo,

Femina tantorum titulis insignis avorum,

Frangis ? Habes aditum mansurae in saecula famae.

Laudis in hoc sexu non legum cura ^ nee arma, 75

Unica materia est coniunx miser. Erige mentem,

Et tua cum fatis pietas decertet, et ipsum,

^ cura Markland : iura M88.

^ "Darkness" here and often has the sense of "fainting" or
"unconsciousness"; comp. v. 220.

440

BOOK VIII

What it brings, she knows not; and up till now
her worst fear is evil news of the war and ominous
report; but now the messenger is her husband, and
his message, defeat. Why waste the time when you
might mourn ? Though you might weep already, you
only fear. Then, as the ship came close, she sprang
up and marked the guilt and cruelty of Heaven,
the ghastly pallor of the general, the white hair
that hid his face, and the black dust that defiled his
garments. Darkness^ closed upon her grief and
robbed her of the light of heaven ; sorrow stopped
her breath ; betrayed by the muscles, all her limbs
relaxed, her heart ceased to beat, and long she lay
deceived by the hope that this was death. Now the
cable was made fast to the shore, and Pompey trod
the solitary strand. When her faithful handmaids
saw him close at hand, they dared not rail at destiny
except with stifled groans, and tried in vain to lift
their fainting mistress from the ground ; but Pompey
folded her in his arms and brings back life to the
rigid limbs by his embrace. Back came the blood
to the surface of the body ; she began to be aware
of Pompey's touch, and to be able to endure the
sorrowful face of her husband. He forbids her to
be conquered by destiny and tiius reproves the
excess of her sorrow : " Adorned as you are by the
fame of such mighty ancestors, why do you suffer
the first stroke of Fortune to break down the
courage of your noble race? Here is your oppor-
tunity for undying fame. To your sex neither
peaceful government nor war is a field for glory : a
husband's sorrow alone can win it. Lift up your
heart, let your devotion wrestle with destiny, and
let the very fact that I have been conquered be

441

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Quod sum victus, ama. Nunc sum tibi gloria maior,
A me quod fasces et quod pia turba senatus
Tantaque discessit regum manus : incipe Magnum
Sola sequi. Deformis adhuc vivente marito
Summus et augeri vetitus dolor : ultima debet
Esse fides lugere virum. Tu nulla tulisti
Bello damna meo : vivit post proelia Magnus
Sed fortuna perit. Quod defies,, illud amasti."

Vocibus his correpta viri vix aegra levavit
Membra solo tales gemitu rumpente querellas :
" O utinam in thalamos invisi Caesaris issem
Infelix coniunx et nuUi laeta marito !
Bis nocui mundo : me pronuba ducit Erinys
Crassorumque umbrae, devotaque manibus illis
Assyrios in castra tuli civilia casus,
Praecipitesque dedi populos cunctosque fugavi
A causa meliore deos. O maxime coniunx,
O thalamis indigne meis, hoc iuris habebat
In tantum fortuna caput ? cur inpia nupsi.
Si miserum factura fui ? nunc accipe poenas,
Sed quas sponte luam : quo sit tibi mollius aequor,
Certa fides regum totusque paratior orbis.
Sparge mari comitem. Mallem felicibus armis
Dependisse caput : nunc clades denique lustra,
Magne, tuas. Ubicumque iaces civilibus armis
Nostros ulta toros, ades hue atque exige poenas,

* See n. to iii. 22,
442

BOOK VIII

dear to you. For 1 bring you greater distinction
now, when the magistrates and devoted ranks of
the Senate and all my retinue of kings have parted
from me : from this time be the sole follower of
Magnus. The depth of woe, woe that admits of
no increase, is unbecoming while your husband
lives ; to mourn him dead should be your last proof
of fidelity. My defeat has brought no loss to you ;
for Magnus survives the battle, though his greatness
has gone ; that which you weep for is what you
really loved."

Thus rebuked by her husband, slowly she raised
her ailing limbs from the ground, and her wailing
broke out into complaints like these : *' Would that I
had been wedded to hated Caesar ; for disaster was
my dower and I have brought happiness to no
husband. Twice have I brought a curse on man-
kind ; the Fury and the ghosts of the Crassi ^ gave
me in marriage ; and I, devoted to those dead, have

Oi: brought the disaster of Carrhae to the camp of civil
war, and hurled nations to their doom, and driven
all Heaven away from the better side. O mighty
husband, too good for such a wife, had Fortune
such power over one so great .^ Why was I guilty
of marrying you, if I was to bring you sorrow?

BSj Now accept the penalty — a penalty which I will
gladly pay : that the sea may be smoother for
you, the kings steadfast in their loyalty, and the
whole world more ready to serve you, scatter the
limbs of your companion over the deep. 1 had
rather have laid down my life to buy you victory ;
as it is, at least expiate your defeat by my death.
Let relentless Julia, wherever she is buried, come
here and exact the penalty; she has punished our

443

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

lulia crudelis, placataque paelice caesa

Magno parce tuo." Sic fata iterumque refusa 106

Coniugis in gremium cunctorum lumina solvit

In lacrimas. Duri flectuntur pectora Magni,

Siccaque Tliessalia confudit lumina Lesbos.

Tunc Mytilenaeum pleno iam litore volgus
Adfatur Magnum : " Si maxima gloria nobis 110

Semper erit tanti pignus servasse mariti,
Tu quoque devotos sacro tibi foedere muros
Oramus sociosque lares dignere vel una
Nocte tua : fac, Magne, locum, quern cuncta revisant
Saecula, quem veniens hospes ilomanus adoret. 116

Nulla tibi subeunda magis sunt moenia victo :
Omnia victoris possunt sperare favorem,
Haec iam crimen habent. Quid, quod iacet insula ponto,
Caesar eget ratibus ? procerum pars magna coibit
Carta loci, note reparandum est litore fatuni. 120

Accipe templorum cultus aurumque deorum ;
Accipe, si terris, si puppibus ista iuventus
Aptior est ; tota, quantum valet, utere Lesbo.
Accipe : ne Caesar rapiat, tu victus habeto.
Hoc solum crimen meritae bene detrahe terrae, 126

Ne nostram videare fidem felixque secutus
Et damnasse miser." Tali pietate virorum
Laetus in adversis et mundi nomine gaudens
Esse fidem " Nullum toto mihi " dixit "in orbe

1 By having sheltered Cornelia.
444

BOOK VIII

marriage by civil strife ; let her be appeased by the
death of her rival and spare Magnus when he is
hers." With these words she fell back into her
husband's arms, and the eyes of all were melted to
tears. The stern heart of Magnus was moved, and
Lesbos made wet the eyes that were dry at Pharsalia.
Next the people of Mytilene, who had now
flocked to the shore, addressed Magnus thus :
"Since it will ever be our chief boast to have
guarded the treasure of so great a husband, do you
also honour the city bound to you by sacred ties,
and deem our friendly dwellings worthy to shelter
you for one night at least. Make this a place of
pilgrimage for all ages, a place where strangers
may come from Rome and worship. No city is
more fit for you to enter after defeat : though all
others may hope for the clemency of the conqueror,
ours is already guilty.^ Besides, Lesbos is an island,
and Caesar has no fleet. Most of the senators,
knowing where to find you, will gather here ;
you must make good your failure on this famous
shore. Take the ornaments of our temples and the
treasure of our gods ; take our manhood's strength,
to use on land or at sea, wherever it is most service-
able ; make use of all Lesbos to the utmost of her
power. Accept our gifts ; though conquered, take
them that Caesar may not rob us of them. Only
of this charge acquit a land that has served you
well : let it not appear that in adversity you doubted
our loyalty which you appealed to in your good
fortune." Cheered in his hour of defeat to find
such devotion, and glad, for the sake of humanity,
that loyalty still existed, Pompey replied : " By a
most dear pledge I have proved to you that no land

445

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Gratius esse solum non parvo pignore vobis 130

Ostendi : tenuit nostros hac obside Lesbos

Adfectus ; hie sacra domus carique penates,

Hie mihi Roma fuit. Non ulla in litora puppem

Ante dedi fugienSj saevi cum Caesaris iram

lam scirem meritam servata coniuge Lesbon, 135

Non veritus tantam veniae committere vobis

Materiam. Sed iam satis est fecisse nocentes :

Fata mihi totum mea sunt agitanda per orbem.

Heu nimium felix aeterno nomine Lesbos,

Sive doces populos regesque admittere Magnum, 140

Seu praestas mihi sola fidem. Nam quaerere certum est,

Fas quibus in terris, ubi sit scelus. Accipe, numen

Si quod adhuc mecum es, votorum extrema meorum :

Da similes Lesbo populos, qui Marte subactum

Non intrare suos infesto Caesare portus, 146

Non exire vetent.*' Dixit maestamque carinae

Inposuit comitem. Cunctos mutare putares

Tellurem patriaeque solum : sic litore toto

Plangitur, infestae tenduntur in aethera dextrae.

Pompeiumque minus, cuius fortuna dolorem 150

Moverat, ast illam, quam toto tempore belli

Ut civem videre suam, discedere cernens

Ingemuit populus ; quam vix, si castra mariti

Victoris peteret, siccis dimittere matres

lam poterant oculis : tan to devinxit amore 155

Hos pudor, hos probitas castique modestia voltus,

Quod summissa animis,^ nulli gravis hospita turbae,

^ animis Heinsius : nimis M8S.

1 His own person, which they might betray to Caesar.
446

BOOK VIII

on earth is more acceptable to me : Lesbos held my
heart, while Cornelia was your hostage ; Lesbos was
my hearth and home, all that was dear and sacred ;
Lesbos was Rome to me. To no other shore did I
first direct my vessel in my flight; and, though I
knew that Lesbos had already earned Caesar's anger
by keeping safe my wife, I did not fear to put in
your hands so mighty a means ^ of gaining his for-
giveness. But here I must call a halt and make
you guilty no more. My own future I must follow
up over all the world. Ah, too happy Lesbos, and
famous for ever, whether she teaches other nations
and kings to harbour me or alone proves faithful to
me. For I am resolved to search the world and find
out where goodness is, and where crime. Hear my
last prayer, ye gods, if any god is still upon my
side : may I find nations like to Lesbos, who will
suffer a defeated man, pursued by Caesar, to enter
their ports and also suffer him to sail out again."
Thus he spoke and set his sorrowing companion on
board. One might have thought that all the people
were leaving their native soil for a foreign land ; such
wailing rose from all the shore ; and menacing hands
were stretched towards heaven. Pompey's departure
they felt less — his ill-fortune only had stirred their
grief; but when they saw Cornelia leaving them,
Cornelia whom throughout the war they looked on
as one of themselves, tlien the people groaned
aloud ; if she had sought the camp of a victorious
husband, scarce could the matrons have parted from
her without tears ; with such love had she attached
some by her gentleness, others by her goodness
and her pure and modest looks, because, humble of
heart and a burdensome guest to none of the

447

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Stantis adbuc fati vixit quasi coniuge victo.

lam pelago medios Titan demissus ad ignes
Nee qiiibus abscondit, nee si quibus exerit orbem, 160
Totus erat. Vigiles Pompei pectore curae
Nunc soeias adeunt Romani foederis urbes
Et varias regum mentes, nune invia mundi
Arva super nimios soles Austrumque iacentis.
Saepe labor maestus curarum odiumque futuri 166

Proiecit fessos incerti pectoris aestus,
Rectoremque ratis de cunctis consulit astris,
Unde notet terras, quae sit mensura secandi
Aequoris in caelo, Syriara quo sidere servet,
Aut quotus in Plaustro Libyam bene derigat ignis. 170
Doctus ad haec fatur taciti servator Olynipi :
''Signifero quaecumque fluunt labentia caelo
Numquam stante polo miseros fallentia nautas,
Sidera non sequimur ; sed, qui non mergitur undis
Axis inocciduus gemina clarissimus Arcto, 176

lile regit puppes. Hie cum mihi semper in altum
Surget et instabit summis minor Ursa ceruchis,
Bosporon et Scythiae curvantem litora Pontum
Spectamus. Quidquid descendet ab arbore summa
Arctophylax propiorque mari Cynosura feretur, 180

In Syriae portus tendit ratis. Inde Canopos
Excipit, australi caelo contenta vagari.

* The Antipodes, whose existence was denied by some of the
ancients.

448

BOOK VIII

people, she lived, while her husband's fortune stood
firm, as if he had been conquered already.

By now the sun had sunk half his ball of fire in
the sea, and his disc was not wholly seen either by
those from wiiora he withdrew it, or by those, if
such there be,^ to whom he revealed it. The care
that kept watch in Pompey's breast turned at one
time to the allied cities in league with Rome and
to the wavering allegiance of the kings, at another
time to the pathless lands of the region that lies
beyond the burning suns of the south. So sad and
weary were his thougiits, such his loathing of the
morrow, that often he threw off the heavy load
of his conflicting purposes, and questioned the
steersman concerning all the stars; by what star
does he mark the land } what rule and measure
for cleaving the sea does the sky afford? by what
star does he keep a course to Syria ? or which of the
seven stars in the Wain is a sure guide to Libya?
The skilled watcher of the silent sky replied to him
thus: "All those lights which move and glide
through the starry heavens mislead the hapless
seaman, because the sky is ever shifting ; to them
we pay no heed ; but the pole-star, which never
sets or sinks beneath the waves, the brightest star
in the two Bears, he it is that guides our course.
When I see him mount ever towards the zenith,
and when the Little Bear rises above the towering
yards, then we face towards the Bosporus and the
Black Sea that hollows the Scythian shore. But
whenever Bootes sinks from the topmast and the
Little Bear moves nearer the horizon, the ship is
making for the ports of Syria. Next after that
conies Canopus, a star that shuns the North and

449

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Stella, timens Borean : ilia quoque perge sinistra
Trans Pharon, in medio tanget ratis aequore Syrtim.
Sed quo vela dari, quo nunc pede carbasa tendi 185

Nostra iubes ? " Dubio contra cui pectore Magnus
" Hoc solum toto " respondit "in aequore serva,
Ut sit ab Emathiis semper tua longius oris
Puppis, et Hesperiam pelago caeloque relinquas :
Cetera da ventis. Comitem pignusque recepi 190

Depositum ; turn certus eram, quae litora vellem.
Nunc portum fortuna dabit." Sic fatur ; at ille
lusto vela modo pendentia cornibus acquis
Torsit et in laevum puppim dedit, utque secaret
Quas Asinae cautes et quas Chios asperat undas 195

Hos dedit in proram, tenet hos in puppe rudentes.
Aequora senserunt motus aliterque secante
lam pelagus rostro nee idem spectante carina
Mutavere sonum. Non sic moderator equorum,
Dexteriore rota laevum cum circumit axem, 200

Cogit inoffensae currus accedere metae.
Ostendit terras Titan et sidera texit.
Sparsus ab Emathia fugit quicumque procella,
Adsequitur Magnum ; primusque a litore Lesbi
Occurrit natus, procerum mox turba fidelis. 206

Nam neque deiecto fatis acieque fugato
Abstulerat Magno reges fortuna ministros :
Terrarum dominos et sceptra Eoa tenentes
Exul habet comites. lubet ire in devia mundi

A This place is not mentioned elsawhere.

* With the result that they took a southern course.
' The left wheel acts as a pivot.

* Sextus, his younger son ; Guaeus, the elder son, was now at
Corcyra with the fleet.

BOOK VIII

limits its wanderings to the southern sky ; if you
keep it on the left and sail on past Pharos, your
vessel will strike the Syrtis in mid-ocean. But
whither do you bid me shape our course, and with
which sheet shall the canvas be stretched ? " With
unsettled purpose, Magnus answered him thus :
"Wherever we sail, be this your only care, to turn
your bark ever further from the shore of Thessaly,
and to leave the West behind in sailing and steer-
ing ; all else trust to the winds. I have taken
on board my companion, the pledge I left for safety ;
then I had no doubt what shore to make for, but
now chance must provide a harbour." Thus he
spoke ; and the steersman tugged at the sails that
hung in equal lengths from the level yard-arms, and
turned the vessel to the left ; and, that she might
cleave the waves made rough by Chios and the
rocks of Asina,^ he slackened the ropes at the bow
and made tiut those at the stern. ^ The sea was
conscious of the movement and gave a different
sound, when the beak cut the water in a new
direction and the ship's course was altered. With
less skill the charioteer makes the right wheel spin
round the left,^ and forces his car close to the turning-
post without striking it.

The sun revealed the earth and veiled the stars.
All who had fled far and wide from the fatal field
of Pharsalia rallied round Magnus ; first to meet
him, after he quitted the shore of Lesbos, Avas his
son,* and next came his loyal band of senators ; for
even when cast down by destiny and routed in
battle, he was not deprived by Fortune of kings to
serve him : the exile was escorted by the lords
of earth and the monarchs of the East. Deiotarus,

451

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Deiotarum, qui sparsa ducis vestigia legit. 210

" Quando " ait " Emathiis amissus cladibus orbis.

Qua Romanus erat, superest, fidissime regum,

Eoam temptare fidem populosque bibentes

Euphraten et adhuc securum a Caesare Tigrim.

Ne pigeat Magno quaerentem fata remotas 215

Medorum penetrare domos Scythicosque recessus

Et totum mutare diem, vocesque superbo

Arsacidae perferre meas : * Si foedera nobis

Prisca manent mihi per Latium iurata Tonantem,

Per vestros astricta magos, inplete pharetras 220

Armeniosque arcus Geticis intendite nervis.

Si vos, o Partbi, petereni cum Caspia claustra

Et sequerer duros aeterni Martis Alanos,

Passus Achaemeniis late decurrere cam pis

In tutam trepidos numquam Babylona coegi. 225

Arva super Cyri Ciialdaeique ultima regni

Qua rapidus Ganges et qua Nysaeus Hydaspes

Accedunt pelago, Phoebi surgentis ab igne

lam propior quam Persis eram : tamen omnia vincens

Sustinui nostris vos tantum desse triumphis, 230

Solusque e numero regum telluris Eoae

Ex aequo me Parthus adit. Nee munere Magni

Stant semel Arsacidae ; quis enim post volnera cladis

Assyriae iustas Latii conpescuit iras ?

Tot meritis obstricta meis nunc Parthia ruptis 235

Excedat claustris vetitam per saecula ripam

^ A compact epigram : loyalty is due from subjects to kings,
but the Eastern kings were Ponipey's subjects. This mission of
Deiotarus must have been invented by Lucan.

* Arsaces XIII was then king of the Paithiaus who are here
and often called " Medea "

* See n. to i I '

* Carrhae, 53 a.o.

452

BOOK VIII

who had tracked his leader through his wanderings,
he bade repair to the ends of tiie earth. ^' Since/'
said he " the world, so far as it was Roman, has been
lost by the disaster of Pharsalia, it remains, O most
loyal of my kings,^ to test the allegiance of the
East, of the nations who drink the Euphrates and
the Tigris, rivers as yet unmolested by Caesar.
Seeking success for me, refuse not to explore the
distant home of the Medes and remote Scythia ; be
willing to change your clime completely, and bear
to the proud scion of Arsaces ^ this message from
me : * If our ancient treaty holds good — the treaty
which I swore to observe in the name of the Roman
Thunderer, and which was made fast by your Wise
Men — then fill full your quivers, and stretch the
bows of Armenia with the strings of the Getae ; for,
when I marched towards the Caspian Gates and
pursued the hardy Alani, ever at war, I suffered the
Parthian s to ride at will over the Persian plains and
never forced them to take hasty refuge in Babylon.^
I passed the realm of Cyrus and the uttermost parts
of the Chaldean kingdom, where the impetuous
Ganges and Nysaeaii Hydaspes join the sea ; and
I was nearer to the flame of the rising sun than
Persia is ; though I was everywhere victorious, I
forbore to add the Parthians, and them alone, to
the list of my triumphs ; and, alone among the
kings of the East, the Parthian approached me on
equal terms. And a second time, thanks to me,
the sons of Arsaces were saved. For who else
curbed the righteous anger of Rome that followed
the blow of the defeat in Assyria ? * Now let
Parthia, bound by so many benefits from me, burst
her bounds, to cross the bank forbidden for many

453

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Zeugmaque Pellaeum. Pompeio vincite, Parthi,

Vinci Roma volet.' " Regem parere iubenti

Ardua non piguit, positisque insignibus aulae

Egreditur famulo raptos indutus amictus. 240

In dubiis tutum est inopem simulare tyranno ;

Quanto igitur mundi dominis seeurius aevum

Verus pauper agit ! Dimisso in litore rege

Ipse per Icariae scopulos, Ephesonque relinquens

Et placidi Colophona maris, spumantia parvae 246

Radit saxa Sami ; spirat de litore Coo

Aura fluens ; Cnidon inde fugit claramque relinquit

Sole Rliodon magnosque sinus Telmessidos undae

Conpensat medio pelagi. Pamphylia puppi

Occurrit tellus, nee se committere muris 260

Ausus adliuc ullis, te primum, parva Phaseli,

Magnus adit ; nam te metui vetat incola rarus

Exhaustaeque domus populis, maiorque carinae

Quam tua turba fuit. Tendens hinc carbasa rursus

lam Taurum Tauroque videt Dipsunta cadentem. 266

Crederet hoc Magnus, pacem cum praestitit undis,
Et sibi consultum ? Cilicum per litora tutus
Parva puppe fugit. Sequitur pars magna senatus
Ad profugum collecta ducem ; parvisque Syhedris,
Quo portu mittitque rates recipitque Selinus, 260

In procerum coetu tandem maesta ora resolvit
Vocibus his Magnus : " Comites bellique fugaeque

Over the Euphrates.
They had gone to the war.
Perhaps the name of a waterfall.
By suppressing piracy.

454

1

BOOK VIII J.:

centuries and pass the Bridge of Alexander.^ If
the Parthians conquer for Pompey's sake, Rome
will welcome her conqueror.' " Hard was the task
enjoined, but the king did not refuse ; he laid aside
the badges of royalty and left the ship, wearing
garments taken in haste from a menial. In danger
a king finds safety in the disguise of a beggar ; how
much safer then is the lot of the really poor man
than that of the lords of earth ! The king was set
ashore ; and Pompey himself sailed past the rocks
of Icaria, and skirted the foaming cliffs of little
Samos, shunning Ephesus and Colophon with their
calm waters ; the breeze blew fresh from the shore
of Cos ; next he avoided Cnidos and Rhodes, famous
island of the sun, and shortened the long circuit
of the bay of Telmessus by keeping the open sea.
The land of Pamphylia now confronted his vessel ;
so far he had not dared to trust himself to any city,
but now he entered the walls of little Phaselis ; for
she was robbed of her terrors by her scanty popula-
tion, and her houses were drained of their inhabi-
tants ; 2 there were more men on board the ship
than in all the town. From hence he set sail again,
and soon came in view of Mount Taurus and Dipsus ^
falling down the mountain-side.

Could Magnus have believed, when he gave peace
to the sea,* that he would profit by it himself.'*
Now he flees unharmed along the coast of the
pirates in his little vessel. He was followed by a
number of senators who rallied round their fugitive
leader ; and at little Syhedra — the harbour which
sends forth and receives again the ships of Selinus —
Magnus at last opened his sorrowful lips at a
meeting of the nobles, and spoke thus : " Comrades

455

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Atque instar patriae, quamvis in litore nudo.

In Cilicum terra, nullis circumdatus armis

Consultem rebusque novis exordia quaeram, 265

Ingentes praestate animos. Non omnis in arvis

Emathiis cecidi, nee sic mea fata premuntur,

Ut nequeam relevare caput cladesque recej)tas

Excutere. An Libycae Marium potuere ruinae

Erigere in fasces et plenis reddere fastis, 270

Me pulsum leviore manu fortuna tenebit?

Mille meae Graio volvuntur in aequore puppes,

Mille duces ; sparsit potius Pharsalia nostras

Quam subvertit opes. Sed me vel sola tueri

Fama potest rerum, toto quas gessimus orbe, 276

Et nomen, quod mundus amat. Vos pendite regna

Viribus atque fide Libyam Parthosque Pharonque,

Queinnam Roraanis deceat succurrere rebus.

Ast ego curarum vobis arcana mearum

Expromam mentisque meae quo pondera vergant. 280

Aetas Niliaci nobis suspecta tyranni est,

Ardua quippe fides robustos exigit annos.

Hinc anceps dubii terret sollertia Mauri ;

Namque memor generis Carthaginis inj^ia proles

Inminet Hesperiae, multusque in pectore vano est 285

Hannibal, obliquo maculat qui sanguine regnum

Et Numidas contingit avos. lam supplice Varo

Intumuit viditque loco Romana secundo.

1 Comp. ii. 91 f.

* Piolemy XII was thirteen at this time.

' Juba, king of Numidia, who, according to Lucan, hoped to
be a second Hannibal.

* Juba's ancestor, Masinissa, married the Carthaginian
Sophonisba, daughter of a Hasdru^al (who may have been related
to Hannibal), but she had no children by him.

456

BOOR VIII

in battle and in flight, you who represent our
country, though I, who ask your counsel and seek
to set a new enterprise on foot, stand here on a
barren shore in the land of Cilicia, and have no
armies round me, yet hear me with proud hearts.
I did not fall for ever on the field of Pharsalia ; nor
has my destiny sunk so low that I can never again
raise my head and shake off the defeat I have
suffered. If the ruins of Carthage could raise
Marius ^ to office and replace him in the Calendar,
full already of his name, shall Fortune keep me
down, whom she has smitten with a lighter blow ?
Mine are a thousand ships that toss on Grecian
waters, and mine a thousand leaders ; Pharsalia
scattered my resources but did not overthrow them.
If it had, I could find safety merely in the fame
of the mighty deeds I wrought over all the earth,
and in that name which the whole world loves. It
is for you to weigh well the kingdoms in point of
strength and loyalty — Libya, Parthia, and Egypt- -
and to decide who may with honour retrieve the
fortunes of Rome. But I will unveil to you my
own secret thoughts and the purpose to which
the balance of my mind inclines. I mistrust the
youth of the Egyptian king ; ^ for dangerous loyalty
requires the years of manhood. Next, I fear the
Si' two-faced cunning of the fickle Moor;^ for that
impious son of Carthage, mindful of his pedigree,
threatens Italy, and his empty head is full of
Hannibal — Hannibal, who by collateral descent dis-
graces the dynasty and is related to his Numidian
ancestors.* Already, when Varus begged his aid,
; Juba swelled with pride to see Rome take the
second place. Therefore, my companions, let us

457

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Quare a^te Eoum, comites, properemus in orbem.

Dividit Euphrates ingentem gurgite miindum, 290

Caspiaque iiimensos seducunt claustra recessus,

Et polus Assyrias alter noctesque diesque

Vertitj et abruptum est nostro 7nare discolor unda

Oceanusque suus. Pugnandi ^ sola voluptas.

Celsior in campo sonipes et fortior arcus, 295

Nee puer aut senior letales tendere nervos

Segnis, et a nulla mors est incerta sagitta.

Primi Pellaeas arcu fregere sarisas

Bactraque, Medorum sedem, murisque superbam

Assyrias Babylona domos. Nee pila timentur 300

Nostra nimis Parthis, audentque in bella venire

Experti Scythicas Crasso pereunte pharetras.

Spicula nee solo spargunt fidentia ferro,

Stridula sed multo saturantur tela veneno;

Volnera parva nocent, fatumque in sanguine summo est.

O utinam non tanta mihi fiducia saevis 306

Esset in Arsacidis ! fatis nimis aemula nostris

Fata movent Medos, multumque in gente deorum est.

EfFundam populos alia tellure revolsos

Excitosque suis inmittam sedibus ortus. 310

Quod si nos Eoa fides et barbara fallent

Foedera, volgati supra commercia mundi

Naufragium fortuna ferat : non regna preeabor.

Quae feci. Sat magna feram solacia mortis

Orbe iacens alio, nihil haec in membra cruente, 316

* Pugnandi Quietus : Regnandi M88.

^ The Persian Gulf seems to be confused with the Red Sea.
* The soldiers of the Macedonian phalanx were armed with
the sarisa^ a long pike.

458

BOOK VIII

be up and hasten to the Eastern cHme. The waters
of the Euphrates shut off from us a mighty world,
and the Caspian Gates hide boundless solitudes ; in
Assyria a different hemisphere makes the changes

h- of night and day ; they have an ocean of their own,
and a sea severed from ours and unlike in the
colour of its water.^ Their one passion is for war.
Tall is their warhorse on the plain, and strong their
bow ; youth and age are quick to stretch the deadly

It string, and death follows sure from every shaft.
Their archers were the first to break the Macedonian
phalanx,^ and they took Bactra, the seat of the
Medes, and Babylon, the city of Assyria, with her
proud walls. Nor is the Roman javelin much
dreaded by the Parthians ; but they come boldly
to battle, having proved their Scythian quivers on
the day when Crassus fell. And the shafts which
they shower do not depend on steel alone, but their
hurtling missiles are thoroughly steeped in poison.

^ Even a slight wound is fatal, and death is in a mere
scratch. (Would that my belief in the power of the
cruel sons of Arsaces were not so strong ! The
destiny which controls the Medes rivals too closely
that of Rome, and their nation is greatly blessed

t>i of Heaven.) 1 shall pour forth nations uprooted
from another land ; I shall summon all the East
from its habitations and hurl it against my foe.
But if the loyalty of the East and my treaty with
the barbarians shall fail me, then let chance bear
my shattered fortunes beyond the trodden high-
ways of the world. I will not sue to the kings I
made. If I fall at the end of the earth, this wilj
be sufficient consolation for my death, that Caesar
has been guilty of no outrage against my corpse,

459

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Nil socerum fecisse pie. Sed cuncta revolvens
Vitae fata meae, semper veiierabilis ilia
Orbis parte fui, quantus Maeotida supra,
Quantus apud Tanaim toto conspectus in ortu !
Quas magis in terras nostrum felicibus actis 320

Nomen abit, aut unde redi ^ maiore triumplio ?
Roma, fave coeptis ; quid enim tibi laetius umquam
Praestiterint superi, quam, si civilia Partho
Milite bella geras, tantam consumere gentem
Et nostris miscere mails ? Cum Caesaris arma 326

Concurrent Medis, aut me fortuna necesse est
Vindicet aut Crassos." Sic fatus murmure sensit
Consilium damnasse viros ; quos Lentulus omnes
Virtutis stimulis et nobilitate dolendi
Praecessit dignasque tulit modo consule voces : 330

" Sicine Thessalicae mentem fregere ruinae ?
Una dies mundi damnavit fata ? secundum
Emathiam lis tanta datur ? iacet omne cruenti
Volneris auxilium ? solos tibi, Magne, reliquit
Parthorum fortuna pedes ? quid transfuga mundi, 336
Terrarum totos tractus caelumque perosus,
Aversosque polos alienaque sidera quaeris,
Chaldaeos culture focos et barbara sacra,
Parthorum famulus ? quid causa obtenditur armis
Libertatis amor ? miserum quid decipis orbem, 340

Si servire potes ? te, quem Romana regentem
Horruit auditu, quem captos ducere reges
Vidit ab Hyrcanis, Indoque a litore, silvis,

* redi Lachmann : redit MSS.

* Funeral rites, if performed by Caesar, would be only a
crowning insult.

* In 49 B.C. Heitland describes this speech as "good of its
kind but too long by half."

460

BOOK VIII

and guilty of no respect.^ But when I review the
whole story of my life, I was ever worshipful in
that Eastern world : how great was I beyond the
Maeotian Mere and by the Tanais, the cynosure of all
the East ! Into no lands did my name go forth with
more glorious exploits, and from none did I return
more triumphant. Rome, smile on my enterprise !
for no greater boon can Heaven confer on you
than that you should use Parthians to fight your
civil wars, and so destroy that great nation and
make them share our calamities. When Caesar's
armies clash with the Medes, the issue must avenge
either me or the Crassi." Thus he spoke ; but he
perceived by their muttering that the meeting had
condemned his plan. Lentulus was superior to
them all in keen sense of honour and generous
indignation ; and thus he spoke in terms befitting
one who had just been consul : ^ " Has the defeat
of Pharsalia so utterly broken your spirit ? Has a
single day fixed the world's destiny } Is the mighty
issue to be decided by the result of Pharsalia ? Is
all cure for our bleeding wound impossible ? Plas
Fortune left you no course, Magnus, save to fall
5(^; at the Parthians' feet ? Why do you fly from our
world, and shun whole regions of earth and sky ?
why seek a heaven turned from ours and foreign
stars, in order to worship Chaldaean fires with
savage rites, and to serve Parthians } Why was the
love of freedom put forward as the pretext of war ?
Why thus deceive a suffering world, if you can
stoop to be a slave to any ? The Parthian king
heard your name and trembled when you were
ruler of Rome, and saw you lead kings captive from
the Hyrcanian forests and Indian shores; shall he

461

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Deiectum fatis, humilem fractumque videbit

Rex tolletque ^ animos Latium vaesanus in orbem 345

Se simul et Romam Pompeio supplice mensus ?

Nil animis fatisque tuis effabere dignum :

Exiget ignorans Latiae commercia linguae,

Ut lacrimis se, Magne, roges. Patimurne pudoris

Hoc volnus, clades ut Parthia vindicet ante 350

Hesperias^ quam Roma suas ? civilibus armis

Elegit te nempe ducem : quid volnera nostra

In Scythicos spargis populos cladesque latentes ?

Quid Parthos transire doces ? solacia tanti

Perdit Roma mali, nullos admittere reges 355

Sed civi servire suo. luvat ire per orbem

Ducentem saevas Romana in moenia gentes

Signaque ab Euphrate cum Crassis capta sequentem ?

Qui solus regum fato celante favorem

Defuit Emathiae, nunc tantas ille lacesset 360

Auditi victoris opes aut iungere fata

Tecum, Magne, volet? Non haec fiducia genti est.

Omnis in Arctois populus quicumque pruinis

Nascitur, indomitus bellis et mortis amator :

Quidquid ad Eoos tractus mundique teporem 365

Ibitur, emoUit gentes dementia caeli. .

Illic et laxas vestes et fluxa virorum

Velamenta vides. Parthus per Medica rura,

Sarmaticos inter campos effusaque piano

Tigridis arva solo, nulli superabilis hosti est 370

^ Rex tolletque Housman : Extolletque M8S.

^ The battle of Pharsalia : there is no reference to Carrbae.
462

BOOK VIII

now see you cast down by destiny _, a beaten, broken
man, and raise his mad ambition against the Roman
world, measuring himself and Rome together by the
prayers of Pompey ? You will utter nothing worthy
of your pride and past history ; unskilled to com-
municate in the Latin tongue, he will require you,
Magnus, to appeal to him by your tears. Must we
endure this stain upon our honour, that Parthia
shall forestall Rome in avenging Rome's own disaster
in the West ? ^ Rome chose you surely as a leader
for civil war only : why do you publish among the
Scythian nations our mutual sufferings and disasters,
of which they were ignorant ? Why do you teach
the Parthians to cross the Euphrates ? Thus Rome
loses the one mitigation of her great suffering — that
she submits to no foreign ruler but owns a son
of her own as master. Does it please you to march
across the world against the walls of Rome, with
savage nations at your back, and preceded by the
standards taken together with the Crassi at the
Euphrates? One king alone was absent from
Pharsalia, while Fortune still concealed her pre-
ference ; and will he now challenge the mighty
strength of the conqueror when he hears tidings
of his triumph ? Will he now be willing to make
common cause with you ? Such self-reliance does
not belong to that people. Every native of the
Northern snows is vehement in war and courts
death ; but every step you go towards the East
and the torrid zone, the people grow softer as the
sky grows kinder. There one sees loose garments
and flowing robes worn even by men. In the
smiling land of Media, amid the plains of Sarmatia,
and in the level lands that extend by the Tigris,

463

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Libertate fugae ; sed non, ubi terra tumebit,

Aspera conscendet mentis iuga, nee per opacas

Bella geret tenebras incerto debilis arcu.

Nee franget nando violent! vorticis amnem.

Nee tota in pugna perfusus sanguine membra 375

Exiget aestivum calido sub pulvere solem.

Non aries illis, non uUa est machina belli,

Aut fossas inplere valent, Parthoque sequent!

Murus erit quodcumque potest obstare sagittae.

Pugna levis bellumque fugax turmaeque vagantes, 380

Et ihelior cessisse loco quam pellere miles ;

Inlita tela dolis, nee Martem comminus usquam

Ansa pat! virtus, sed longe tendere nervos

Et, quo ferre velint, permittere volnera ventis.

Ensis habet vires, et gens quaecumque virorum 386

Bella gerit gladiis. Nam Medos proelia prima

Exarmant vacuaque iubent remeare pharetra.

Nulla manus illis, fiducia tota veneni est.

Credis, Magne, viros, quos in discrimina belli

Cum ferro misisse parum est ? temptare pudendum 390

Auxilium tanti est, toto divisus ut orbe

A terra moriare tua, tibi barbara tell us

Incumbat, te parva tegant ac vilia busta,

Invidiosa tamen Crasso quaerente sepulchrum ?

Sed tua sors levior, quoniam mors ultima poena est 395

Nee metuenda viris. At non Cornelia letum

^ Due to ravines or woods, not the darkness of night.
464

BOOK VIII

the Parthian cannot be conquered by any foe,
because he has room for flight ; but, where earth
rises in hills, he will never climb the rough mountain
ridges, nor fight on through thick darkness ^ when
crippled by the failure of his bow, nor stem a river
in fierce eddy by swimming ; nor, when every limb
is drenched in blood of battle, will he endure the
long summer day beneath the stifling dust. They
have no battering-rams and no war-engines of any
kind, and no strength to level ditches ; but any
defence that can keep out an arrow will be a wall
against pursuing Parthians. Their battle is a skir-
mish, they flee while fighting, their squadrons rove
at large. Their soldiers are more swift to yield
their own ground than to dislodge the foe from his.
Their missiles are smeared with guile ; their valour
nowhere dares to face the enemy at close quarters,
but only to draw the bow at a distance and suffer
the winds to carry their weapons whither they will.
Strength belongs to the sword, and every manly
race uses cold steel to fight with. But the first
hour of battle disarms the Parthians and bids them
retreat with emptied quivers. All their reliance is
on poison, and none on the strong hand. Do you
count those as men, Magnus, who are not content
to face the risk of battle with the steel alone ? Is
it worth your while to seek a shameful alliance,
in order that you may die parted by the whole
world from your country, that foreign earth may
rest upon your bones, that a tomb may cover you,
poor indeed and petty, but yet shameful while
Crassus seeks burial in vain ? But your lot is easier,
since death, the utmost penalty, is not terrible to
the brave. But death is not what Cornelia has to

465

VOL. I. Q

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Infando sub rege timet. Num barbara nobis

Est ignota Venus, quae ritu caeca ferarum

Polluit innumeris leges et foedera taedae

Coniugibus, thalamique patent secreta nefandi 400

Inter mille nurus ? Epulis vaesana meroque

Regia non ullis exceptos legibus audet

Concubitus : tot femineis conplexibus unum

Non lassat nox tota marem. lacuere sorores

In regum thalamis sacrataque pignora matres. 405

Damnat apud gentes sceleris non sponte peracti

Oedipodionias infelix fabula Thebas :

Parthorum dominus quotiens sic sanguine mixto

Nascitur Arsacides ! cui fas inplere parentem.

Quid rear esse nefas? Proles tam clara Metelli 410

Stabit barbarico coniunx millesima lecto.

Quamquam non ulli plus regia, Magne, vacabit

Saevitia stimulata Venus titulisque virorum ;

Nam, quo plura iuvent Parthum portenta, fuisse

Hanc sciet et Crassi ; ceu pridem debita fatis 416

Assyriis trahitur cladis captiva vetustae.

Haereat Eoae volnus miserabile sortis,

Non solum auxilium funesto ab rege petisse

Sed gessisse prius bellum civile pudebit.

Nam quod apud populos crimen socerique tuumque 420

Maius erit, quam quod vobis miscentibus arma

1 Because too monstrous to be included : thus Solon framed
no law against parricide.
' Carrhae.

466

BOOK VIII

fear in the power of that infamous king. Are we
ignorant of that barbarous lust, which in the blind
fashion of beasts defiles the binding sanctities of
marriage with a myriad wives, and in which the
secrets of the infamous bridal-chamber are dis-
played in the presence of a thousand women ? The
king, maddened with feasting and wine, ventures
on unions that no laws have ever specified ; ^ a
single male is not exhausted by a whole night spent
in the arms of so many concubines. Their own
sisters lie on the couches of the kings, and, for all
the sanctity of the relation, their own mothers.
Thebes, the city of Oedipus, is condemned in the
eyes of mankind by the gloomy legend of the crime
which he committed unwittingly : how often an
Arsaces is born from such a union to rule the
Parthians I What can I consider unpermitted to
one who permits himself to beget children by his
mother ? The noble daughter of Metellus will wait
by the bed of the barbarian, one among a thousand
wives. And yet, Magnus, tlie king's lust will be
devoted to her more than to any other, for it will
be heated by cruelty and by the fame of her
husbands. For, to heighten the horrid pleasure
of the Parthian, he will know that she was once the
wife of Crassus also : as if long due to the doom
of Carrhae, she will be carried off as a captive taken
in the defeat of long ago. If the pitiful disaster ^
which we suffered in the East rankles in your heart,
you will blush, not only to beg help from the death-
dealing king, but also to have made war on Romans
before Parthians. What greater reproach will the
world bring against you and Caesar than this — that,
when you twa meet in conflict, vengeance for the

467

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Crassorum vindicta perit ? Incurrere ciincti

Debuerant in Bactra duces et, ne qua vacarent

Arma, vel Arctoum Dacis Rhenique catervis

Imperii nudare latus, dum perfida Susa 42?

In tumulos prolapsa ducum Babylonque iaceret.

Assyriae paci finem, Fortuna, precamur ;

Et, si Thessalia bellum civile peractum est.

Ad Parthos, qui vicit, eat. Gens unica mundi est,

De qua Caesareis possim gaudere triumphis. 430

Non tibi, cum primum gelidum transibis Araxen,

Umbra senis maesti Scythicis confixa sagittis

Ingeret has voces ? ' Tu, quern post funera nostra

Ultorera cinerum nudae speravimus umbrae,

Ad foedus pacemque venis ? ' Tum plurima cladis 436

Occurrent monimenta tibi : quae moenia trunci

Lustrarunt cervice duces, ubi nomina tanta

Obruit Euphrates et nostra cadavera Tigris

Detulit in terras ac reddidit. Ire per ista

Si potes, in media socerum quoque, Magne, sedentem 440

Thessalia placare potes. Quin respicis orbem

Romanum ? si regna times proiecta sub Austro

Infidumque lubani, petimus Pharon arvaque Lagi.

Syrtibus hinc Libycis tuta est Aegyptos ; at inde

Gurgite septeno rapidus mare summovet amnis. 445

Terra suis contenta bonis, non indiga mercis

Aut lovis ; in solo tanta est fiducia Nilo.

'^ Crassus.

* An ill-timed allusion to the fact mentioned in iii. 261 ff.
' Pharos is the lighthouse island off Alexandria : in the Latin
poets Phaiian = Egyptian. For Lagus, see n. to v. 00.

468

BOOK VIII

Crassi has been forgotten? All our leaders should
have made haste to Bactra ; and, that every
sword might be engaged, they should have left
the northern frontier of the empire exposed to
the Dacians and the hordes of the Rhine, until
treacherous Susa and Babylon were laid in ruins
over the tombs of their monarchs. We pray to
Fortune that peace with Assyria may end ; and if
the civil war was settled by Pharsalia, let it be the
conqueror who goes to Parthia. They are the one
nation on earth whom I could rejoice to see Caesar
triumph over. As soon as you cross the cold Araxes,
will not the ghost of that sorrowing old man,^
riddled with Scythian arrows, hurl this reproach
upon you ? ' We unburied ghosts hoped that you
would come after our death to avenge our ashes :
do you come to make a treaty and a peace ? ' Next,
memorials of the defeat will crowd upon your sight
— the walls, round which the headless bodies of
our generals were dragged ; the place where the
Euphrates closed over such famous men, and the
Tigris carried the Roman dead underground and
then restored them to sight again.^ If you can
pass through these scenes, Magnus, you can also
sue to Caesar enthroned on the field of Pharsalia.
Why not turn your eyes to the Roman world .'' If
you fear faithless Juba and his realm that stretches
far to the South, then Pharos and the land of
Lagus^ is our goal. On the West Egypt is pro-
tected by the Libyan Syrtes ; and on the North
the rapid river with its seven channels drives back
the sea ; rich in its native wealth, the land has no
need of foreign wares or of Heaven's rain, so great
is her reliance upon the Nile alone. The sceptre

469

M. ANNARUS LUCANUS

Sceptra puer Ptolemaeus habet tibi debita, Magne.
Tutelae commissa tuae. Quis nominis umbram
Horreat ? innocua est aetas. Ne iura fidemque 450

Respectumque deum veteri speraveris aula :
Nil pudet adsuetos sceptris ; mitissima sors est
Regnorum sub rege novo." Non plura locutus
Inpulit hue animos. Quantum^ spes ultima rerum,
Lil^ertatis babes ! Victa est sententia Magni. 455

Turn Cilicum liquere solum Cyproque citatas
Inmisere rates, nullas cui praetulit aras
Undae diva memor Paphiae — si numina nasci
Credimus aut quemquam fas est coepisse deorum.
Haec ubi deseruit Pompeius litora, totos 460

p],mensus Cypri seopulos, quibus exit in Austrum,
Inde maris vasti transverse vertitur aestu ;
Nee tenuit gratum nocturne lumine montem,
Infimaque Aegypti pugnaci litora velo
Vix tetigit, qua dividui pars maxima Nili 466

In vada decurrit Pelusia septimus amnis.
Tempus erat, quo Libra pares examinat horas,
Non uno plus aequa die, noctique rependit
Lux minor hibernae verni solacia damni.
Conperit ut regem Casio se monte tenere, 470

Flectit iter ; nee Phoebus adhuc nee carbasa languent.

lam rapido speculator eques per litora cursu
Hospitis adventu pavidam conpleverat aulam.

1 Aphrodite (Venus), when born from the sea foam, came to
Cyprus.
* Pharos.
' Most easterly. The time was the autumnal equinox.

470

BOOK VIII

which the boy Ptolemy holds^ he owes to you,
Magnus ; it was entrusted to your guardianship.
Who would dread a mere empty name? His is
the age of innocence ; look not for friendship or
loyalty or fear of God in a court where the king
has long reigned ; use robs kings of all shame ; the
subjects' yoke is lightest where their king is new."
Lentulus said no more, but he turned all minds to
his view. How free are desperate men to speak
their minds ! The policy of Magnus was outvoted.

Then they left Cilician soil and steered their
vessels in haste for Cyprus — Cyprus which the
goddess/ mindful of the Paphian waves, prefers to
any of her shrines (if we believe that deities have
birth, or if it is lawful to hold that any of the gods
had a beginning). When Pompey had left that
shore, having sailed past the long line of cliffs with
which Cyprus projects to the South, from there he
sailed a fresh course along the cross-current of the
open sea. Unable to make the tower ^ whose light
the seaman blesses in darkness, with difficulty he
reached the furthest ^ shore of Egypt with battling
sail, where the largest branch of the divided Nile,
one of seven rivers, runs out to the shoals of Pelu-
sium. It was the season when Libra balances the
hours of day and night in equal scales, and stays
level for one day only ; for the shortening day
makes compensation to the winter nights for their
loss in spring. When he learnt that the king was
encamped on. Mount Casius, Pompey bent his course
thither ; the sun was not yet setting, nor the sails
flagging.

By now a mounted watchman, galloping along
the shore, had filled with the news of his arrival

471

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Consilii vix tempus erat ; tamen omnia monstra

Pellaeae coiere domus, quos inter Acoreus 475

lam placidus senio fractisque modestior annis

— Hunc genuit custos Nili crescentis in arva

Memphis vana sacris ; illo cultore deorum

Lustra suae Phoebes non unus vixerat Apis —

Consilii vox prima fuit, meritumque fidemque 480

Sacraque defuncti iactavit pignora patris.

Sed melior suadere malis et nosse tyrannos

Ausus Pompeium leto daranare Pothinus

'' lus et fas multos faciunt, Ptolemaee, nocentes ;

Dat poenas laudata fides, cum sustinet/' inquit 485

" Quos fortuna premit. Fatis accede deisque,

Et cole felices, miseros fuge. Sidera terra

Ut distant et flamma mari, sic utile recto.

Sceptrorum vis tota perit, si pendere iusta

Incipit, evertitque arces respectus honesti. 490

Libertas scelerum est, quae regna invisa tuetur,

Sublatusque modus gladiis. Facere omnia saeve

Non inpune licet, nisi cum facis. Exeat aula.

Qui volt esse pius. Virtus et summa potestas

Non coeunt ; semper metuet, quem saeva pudebunt. 495

Non inpune tuos Magnus contempserit annos.

Qui te nee victos arcere a litore nostro

Posse putat. Neu nos sceptris privaverit hospes,

^ There was a Nilometer at Memphis.

* The meaning is, more than one period of 25 years : the
sacred bull called Apis was not allowed to live longer than this
period.

3 Many who keep these laws suffer for doing so.

472

BOOK VIII

the frightened court. There was scarce time to
deliberate ; yet all the portentous figures of the
Macedonian palace assembled. Among them was Aco-
reus, made mild by age and taught moderation by
decrepitude. Idolatrous Memphis gave him birth —
Memphis ^ which measures the Nile when it rises to
flood the fields ; and during his priesthood more
than one Apis ^ had lived through the term assigned
him by the Moon, his mistress. He spoke first at
the council, dwelling on benefits received and
loyalty and the sacred promises of the dead
monarch's will. But there was one, more fit to
counsel wicked kings and know their heart, and a
Pothinus dared to sign the death-warrant of a
Pompey. He said : " Ptolemy, the laws of God
and man make many guilty ^ : we praise loyalty,
but it pays the price when it supports those whom
Fortune crushes. Take the side of destiny and
Heaven, and court the prosperous but shun the
afflicted. Expediency is as far from the right as the
stars from earth or fire from water. The power of
kings is utterly destroyed, once they begin to weigh
considerations of justice ; and regard for virtue
levels the strongholds of tyrants. It is boundless
wickedness and unlimited slaughter that protect
the unpopularity of a sovereign. If all your deeds
are cruel, you will suffer for it the moment you
cease from cruelty. If a man would be righteous,
let him depart from a court. Virtue is incompatible
with absolute power. He who is ashamed to commit
cruelty must always fear it Let Magnus suffer for
having despised your youth ; he thinks you cannot
repel even a beaten man from our coast. And,
that a stranger may not rob us of the throne,

473

M. ANNARUS LUCANUS

Pignora sunt propiora tibi : Nilumque Pharonque,
Si regnare piget, damnatae redde sorori. 500

Aegyptum certe Latiis tueamur ab armis.
Quidquid non fuerit Magni, dura bella geruntur,
Nee victoris erit. Toto iam pulsus ab orbe,
Postquam nulla manet rerum fiducia, quaerit,
Cum qua gente cadat. Rapitur civilibus umbris. 605
Nee soceri tantum arma fugit : fugit ora senatus,
Cuius Thessalicas saturat pars magna volucres,
Et metuit gentes, quas uno in sanguine mixtas
Deseruit, regesque timet, quorum omnia mersit,
Thessaliaeque reus nulla tellure receptus 610

Sollicitat nostrum, quem nondum perdidit, orbem.
lustior in Magnum nobis, Ptolemaee, querellae
Causa data est. Quid sepositam semperque quietam
Crimine bellorum maculas Pharon arvaque nostra
Victori suspeeta facis ? eur sola eadenti 515

Haee placuit tell us, in quam Pharsalica fata
Conferres poenasque tuas ? iam crimen habemus
Purgandum gladio. Quod nobis seeptra senatus
Te suadente dedit, votis tua fovimus arma.
Hoc ferrum, quod fata iubent proferre, paravi 620

Non tibi, sed victo ; feriam tua viscera, Magne,
Malueram soceri : rapimur, quo cuncta feruntur.
Tene mihi dubitas an sit violare necesse.

* Cleopatra, banished by Ptolemy.
^ To kill Pompey.

474

BOOK VIII

remember that you have others nearer of kin ; and,
if your crown is uneasy, restore the Nile and Pharos
to the sister ^ you have condemned. Let us in any
case protect Egypt from the arms of Rome. What-
ever did not belong to Pompey during the war will
not belong to Caesar either. Driven from all the
world, with no reliance left upon his fortunes, he
seeks a people to share his fall. He is dragged
down by the ghosts of those who fell in civil war.
It is not merely Caesar's sword that he flies from :
he flies also from the face of the senators, of whom so
many are now glutting the vultures of Thessaly ; he
fears the foreign nations, whom he forsook and left
weltering in blood together; he dreads the kings,
whose all he destroyed ; guilty of Pharsalia and
rejected by every country, he troubles our realm
which he has not yet destroyed. But we, Ptolemy,
can complain more justly of Pompey than he of us:
why does he stain secluded and peace-loving Pharos
with the guilt of war and bring down Caesar's dis-
pleasure on our land ? Why when falling did he
choose this country of all others to bring to it the
curse of Pharsalia and the punishment which he
alone should pay? Even now we have incurred
guilt, which we cannot purge away except by using
the sword. 2 On his motion the Senate granted us
the sovereignty of Egypt, and therefore we prayed
for his victory. The sword, which destiny bids me
bring forth, I did not intend for Pompey but for the
loser, whichever he might be. I shall pierce your
heart with it, Magnus ; I had rather have slain
Caesar; but we are borne by the current that
carries the whole world away. Do you doubt
whether 1 must do you violence ? I must, because 1

475

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Cum liceat ? Quae te nostri fiducia regni

Hue agit, infelix ? populum non cernis inermem 525

Arvaque vix refugo fodientem mollia Nilo ?

Metiri sua regna decet viresque fateri,

Tu, Ptolemaee^ potes Magni fulcire ruinam.

Sub qua Roma iacet ? bustum cineresque movere

Thessalicos audes bellumque in regna vocare ? 630

Ante aciem Emathiam nullis accessimus armis :

Pompei nunc castra placent, quae deserit orbis ?

Nunc victoris opes et cognita fata lacessis ?

Adversis non desse decet, sed laeta secutos :

Nulla fides umquam miseros elegit amicos." 635

Adsensere omnes sceleri. Laetatur honore
Rex puer insueto, quod iam sibi tanta iubere
Permittant famuli. Sceleri delectus Achillas,
Perfida qua tellus Casiis excurrit harenis
Et vada testantur iunctas Aegyptia Syrtes, 640

Exiguam sociis monstri gladiisque carinam
Instruit. O superi, Nilusne et barbara Memphis
Et Pelusiaci tam mollis turba Canopi
Hos animos ? sic fata preraunt civilia mundum ?
Sic Romana iacent? ullusne in cladibus istis 645

Est locus Aegypto Phariusque admittitur ensis ?
Hanc certe servate fidem, civilia bella :
Cognatas praestate manus externaque monstra
Pellite. Si meruit tam claro nomine Magnus
Caesaris esse nefas, tanti, Ptolemaee, ruinam 550

^ By a figure found elsewhere in Latin poetry, the battle
itself is said to be buried.

476

BOOK VIII

may. What reliance upon our kingdom brings
him hither, ill-fated man ? Does he not see our
unwarlike population, scarce able to till the fields
softened by the falling Nile? We must take the
measure of our kingdom and confess our weakness.
Are you, Ptolemy, strong enough to prop the fall of
Pom[)ey — that fall beneath which Rome is crushed ?
Dare you disturb the pyre and ashes of Pharsalia,'
and summon war to your own reahns ? Before the
battle of Pharsalia we took neither side : do we now
adopt Pompey's cause when all the world is forsaking
it ? Do you now challenge the might and proved
success of Caesar ? To support the loser in adversity
is right, but right only for those who have shared in
his prosperity ; no loyalty ever picked out the
wretched as friends."

All gave their voices for the crime. The boy-
king was pleased by a deference seldom shown him,
when his servants suffered him to give orders for
such a tragedy. Achillas was chosen to execute the
crime, and manned a small boat with armed accom-
plices for the horrid deed, where the land of traitors
juts out into the sands of Mount Casius, and the
Egyptian shoals tell of the neighbouring Syrtes. Ye
gods ! Do the Nile and barbarous Memphis, and
the effeminate people of Egyptian Canopus, aspire
so high as this ? Does the curse of the civil war
weigh thus on all the world, and has Rome fallen so
low ? What room is there for Egypt in our tragedy,
and what part for the sword of Egypt ? Thus far at
least civil war should keep faith : it should provide
Roman hands to fall by and keep foreign fiends far
away. If the mighty name of Magnus entitled him
to be Caesar's guilt, do you, Ptolemy, not dread the

477

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Nominis haud metuis caeloque tonante profanas

Inseruisse manus^ inpure ac semivir^ audes ?

Non domitor mundi nee ter Capitol ia eurru

Inveetus regumque potens vindexque senatus

Victorisque gener, Phario satis esse tyranno 555

Quod poterat, Romanus erat : quid viscera nostra

Scrutaris gladio ? Nescis, puer inprobe^ nescis,

Quo tua sit fortuna loco : iam iure sine ullo

Nili sceptra tenes ; cecidit civilibus armis

Qui tibi regna dedit. Iam vento vela negarat 560

Magnus et auxilio remorum infanda petebat

Litora ; quem contra non longa vecta biremi

Appulerat scelerata manus^ Magnoque patere

Fingens regna Phari celsae de puppe carinae

In parvam iubet ire ratem, litusque malignum 565

Incusat bimaremque vadis frangentibus aestum,

Qui vetet externas terris adpellere classes.

Quod nisi fatorum leges intentaque iussu

Ordinis aeterni miserae vicinia mortis

Damnatum leto traherent ad litora Magnum, 670

Non ulli comitum sceleris praesagia derant :

Quippe, fides si pura foret, si regia Magno,

Sceptrorum auctori, vera pietate pateret,

Venturum tota Pharium cum classe tyrannum.

Sed cedit fatis classemque relinquere iussus 676

Obsequitur, letumque iuvat praeferre timori.

Ibat in hostilem praeceps Cornelia puppem,

^ There is an ellipse here: the meaning is "But for pre-
ordained destiny, [Pompey might have escaped ; for] all his
companions ..."
478

BOOK VIII

crash of that great name ? do you, foul mockery of a
man, dare to thrust in your sacrilegious hands when
heaven is thundering ? If Pompey were not a world-
conqueror, not one who had thrice driven in
triumph to the Capitol ; if he were not the ruler of
kings, the champion of the Senate, and the son-in-
law of Caesar, — he would be at least a Roman, and
that might have been enough for a king of Egypt ;
why do you probe a Roman heart with your sword,
presumptuous boy ? You do not realise your own
position : already you wear the crown of Egypt with
no right to it, because he who gave it to you has
been overthrown by civil warfare. — Now Magnus
had robbed the wind of his sails and was using oars
to bring him to the accursed coast, when the murder-
ous band came alongside to meet him in a little two-
oared boat. Pretending that he was welcome to the
kingdom of Egypt, they invited him to step into
their little craft from the stern of his tall vessel,
blaming the scanty anchorage, and the surf of two
seas that broke upon the shallows and hindered
foreign ships from access to the land. But for the
law of destiny, and but for the approach of a tragic
end inflicted by decree of the eternal order, which
were drawing Magnus to the shore under sentence
of death — every one of his companions ^ felt a pre-
sentiment of the murder ; for, if there were genuine
loyalty, if the palace were thrown open with true
devotion to Magnus who conferred the royal power
upon it, then the Egyptian monarch would have
come with all his fleet. But Pompey yielded to
destiny and obeyed when asked to leave his
ships, and chose to die rather than betray fear.
Cornelia hastened to enter the hostile craft, the less

479

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Hoc magis inpatiens egresso desse marito,

Quod metuit clades. " Remane^ temeraria coniunx,

Et tu, nate, precor, longeque a litore casus 680

Expectate meos et in hac cervice tyranni

Explorate fidem " dixit. Sed surda vetanti

Tendebat geminas amens Cornelia palmas :

" Quo sine me crudelis abis ? iterumne relinquor

Thessalicis summota malis ? numquam omine laeto 685

Distrahimur miseri. Poteras non flectere p' >pem,

Cum fugeres alto, latebrisque relinquere Lesbi,

Omnibus a terris si nos arcere parabas.

An tantum in fluctus placeo comes?" Haec ubi frustra

EfFudit, prima pendet tamen anxia puppe, 690

Attonitoque metu nee quoquam avertere visus

Nee Magnum spectare potest. Stetit anxia classis

Ad ducis eventum, metuens non arma nefasque

Sed ne summissis precibus Pompeius adoret

Sceptra sua donata manu. Transire parantem 596

Roman us Pharia miles de puppe salutat

Septimius, qui, pro superum pudor, anr.a satelles

Regia gestabat posito deform i a pilo,

Inmanis, violentus, atrox nullaque ferarum

Mitior in caedes. Quis non, Fortuna, putasset 600

Parcere te populis, quod bello, haec dextra vacaret,

Thessaliaque procul tam noxia tela fugasses ?

Disponis gladios, ne quo non fiat in orbe,

Heu, facinus civile tibi. Victoribus ipsis

480

BOOK VIII

willing to be left behind by her husband when he
disembarked because she feared disaster. But he
said : " Stay behind^ rash wife, and you, my son, I
pray ; watch from afar what befalls me on shore, and
use my head to test the loyalty of the king." But
Cornelia, deaf to his refusal, wifdly stretched out
both her hands : " Whither are you departing and
cruelly leaving me behind ? am I deserted a second
time, I who was kept away from the horrors of
Pharsalia ? Ill-omened ever are our partings. You
might, when you fled across the sea, have sailed
straight on and left me in my hiding-place at Lesbos,
if you intended to exclude me from every shore. Is
my company displeasing to you except at sea .'* "
When she had poured forth this remonstrance in
vain, yet in her agony she hung over the end of the
ship, and panic fear prevented her either from
turning her eyes away or from looking steadily at
Magnus. The ships lay there at anchor, uneasy for
the fortunes of their leader ; they feared not
murderous weapons, but that Pompey might bow
witli humble petitions before the sceptre his own
hand had bestowed. As he prepared to step across,
a Roman soldier hailed him from the Egyptian boat.
This was Septimius, who — shame on the gods ! — had
laid down the pilum and carried the unworthy
weapons of the king whose minion he was : a savage,
wild, and cruel man, and bloodthirsty as any wild
beast. Who would not have thought that Fortune
showed mercy to mankind when she banished a
sword so guilty far from Pharsalia, and when his hand
took no part in the battle ? No : she scatters her
assassins, that murder of Roman by Roman may be
wrought in every part of earth to please her.

481

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Dedecus et numquam superum caritura pudore 605

Fabula : Romanus regi sic paruit ensis,
Pellaeusque puer gladio tibi colla recidit,
Magne, tuo. Qua posteritas in saecula mittet
Septimium fama ? scelus hoc quo nomine dicent.
Qui Bruti dixere nefas ? lam venerat horae 610

Terminus extremae, Phariamque ablatus in alnum
Perdiderat iam iura sui. Turn stringere ferrum
Regia monstra parant. Ut vidit comminus enses,
Involvit voltus atque, indignatus apertum
Fortunae praebere^ caput ; turn lumina pressit 615

Continuitque animam^ ne quas efFundere voces
Vellet et aeternam fletu corrumpere famam.
Sed postquam mucrone latus funestus Achillas
Perfodit, nullo gemitu consensit ad ictum
Respexitque nefas, servatque inmobile corpus, 620

Seque probat moriens atque haec in pectore volvit :
** Saecula Romanes numquam tacitura labores
Attendunt, aevumque sequens speculatur ab omni
Orbe ratem Phariamque fidem : nunc consule famae.
Fata tibi longae fluxerunt prospera vitae ; 626

Ignorant populi, si non in morte probaris,
An scieris adversa pati. Ne cede pudori
Auctoremque dole fati : quacumque feriris,
Crede manum soceri. Spargant lacerentque licebit,
Sum tamen, o superi, felix, nullique potestas 630

Hoc auferre deo. Mutantur prospera vita :
Non fit morte miser. Videt banc Cornelia caedem

* Septimius had once seived under Pompey. ■ Ptolemy.
482

BOOK VIII

Disgrace to Caesar himself, a tale that will always
bring reproach on Heaven — a Roman sword obeyed
such a behest of the king, and the head of Magnus
was cut off with his own sword ^ by the Macedonian
boy.2 With what infamy will posterity hand the
name of Septimius down to future ages ? What
name will those who called the deed of Brutus a sin
apply to this crime ? — Now the limit of his last hour
had come ; he was borne off in the Egyptian boat
and had already lost the power of free action. Next,
the king's assassins begin to bare the steel. When
Pompey saw the blades come close, he covered his
face and head, disdaining to expose them bare to the
stroke of doom ; then he closed tight his eyes and
held his breath, that he might have no power of
utterance and might not mar his immortal glory by
tears. But when murderous Achillas had driven the
point through his side, he did not acknowledge the
blow by any cry or take heed of the horror, but
remained motionless, and tested his strength in the
hour of death ; and these thoughts passed through
his mind : " Future ages, that will never forget the
tragedy of Rome, are watching now, and from every
quarter of the world time coming gazes at this boat
and the treachery of Egypt ; think now of fame.
Through a long life the tide of your success never
slackened ; men do not know, unless you prove it by
your death, whether you were able to endure
adver sity. Sink not beneath the shame, nor resent
the instrument of doom : whatever the hand that
slays you, believe it to be the hand of your kinsman.
Though men scatter and mutilate my limbs, never-
theless, ye gods, I am a fortunate man, and of this no
god can deprive me. For life brings change to

483

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Pompeiusque meus : tanto patientius, oro,
Clude, dolor, gemitus ; natus coniunxque peremptum,
Si mirantur, amant." Talis custodia Magno 635

Mentis erat^ ius hoc animi morientis habebat.

At non tarn patiens Cornelia cernere saevum,
Quam perferre, nefas miserandis aethera conplet
Vocibus : " O coniunx, ego te scelerata peremi :
Letiferae tibi causa morae fuit avia Lesbos, 640

Et prior in Nili pervenit litora Caesar ;
Nam cui ius alii sceleris? Sed, quisquis in istud
A superis inmisse caput vel Caesaris irae
Vel tibi prospiciens, nescis, crudelis, ubi ipsa
Viscera sint Magni ; properas atque ingeris ictus, 645
Qua votum est victo. Poenas non morte minores
Pendat et ante meura videat caput. Haud ego culpa
Libera bellorum, quae matrum sola per undas
Et per castra comes nullis absterrita fatis
Victum, quod reges etiam timuere, recepi. 660

Hoc merui, coniunx, in tuta puppe relinqui ?
Perfide, parcebas ? te fata extrema petente
Vita digna fui ? moriar, nee munere regis.
Aut mihi praecipitem, nautae, permittite saltum,
Aut laqueum collo tortosque aptare rudentes, 666

Aut aliquis Magno dignus comes exigat ensem ;
Pompeio praestare potest, quod Caesaris armis
Inputet. O saevi, properantem in fata tenetis ?
484

BOOK VIII

prosperity, but death can make no man wretched.
Cornelia and my son see this murder done ; therefore
I call on my resentment to stifle its complaints all
the more steadfastly ; my wife and son love me dead
the more, if my death win their admiration." Such
control had Magnus over his thoughts, such mastery
over his mind, when he was dying.

But Cornelia, less patient to behold that cruel
outrage than to endure it herself, filled the air with
pitiful cries : " Dear husband, I am guilty of your
death : your fatal delay was caused by the remote-
ness of Lesbos, and Caesar has reached the shore of
Egypt before you ; none else could have power to
command this crime. But whoever you are who
have been sent by Heaven against that life, whether
serving the anger of Caesar or your own, you know
not, ruthless man, where the very heart of Magnus
lies ; in haste you shower your blows where he, in
his defeat, welcomes them. Let him pay a penalty
not less than death by seeing my head fall first. I
am not blameless in respect of the war ; for I was the
only matron who followed him on sea and in camp ;
I was deterred by no disasters, but harboured him in
defeat, which even kings were afraid to do. And
is this my reward from my husband, to be left behind
in the safety of the ship? Would you spare me,
faithless husband.^ Did I deserve to live when you
went to your death } I shall die, nor owe it to King
Ptolemy. Suffer me, ye sailors, either to leap head-
long, or to fit a noose of twisted rope round my
neck ; or let some friend of Pompey prove worthy
of Pompey by driving home his sword in my body
He may do it for Pompey's sake and yet claim it as
a service to Caesar's cause. Cruel men, do you check

485

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Vivis adhuCj coniunx^ et iam Cornelia non est
luris, Magne, sui : proliibent accersere mortem ;
Servor victori." Sic fata interque suorum
Lapsa manus rapitur trepida fugiente carina.

At Magni cum terga sonent et pectora ferro,
Permansisse decus sacrae venerabile formae
Iratamque deis faciem^ nil ultima mortis
Ex habitu voltuque viri mutasse fatentur^
Qui lacerum videre caput. Nam saevus in ipso
Septimius sceleris mains scelus invenit actu,
Ac retegit sacros scisso velamine voltus
Semianimis Magni spirantiaque occup.it ora
Collaque in obliquo ponit languentia transtro.
Tunc nervos venasque secat nodosaque frangit
Ossa diu ; nondum artis erat caput ense rotare.
At postquam trunco cervix abscisa recessit,
Vindicat hoc Pharius, dextra gestare, satelles.
Degener atque operae miles Romane secundae,
Pompei diro sacrum caput ense recidis,
Ut non ipse feras ? o summi fata pudoris !
Inpius ut Magnum nosset puer, ilia verenda
Regibus hirta coma et generosa fronte decora
Caesaries conprensa manu est, Pharioque veruto,
Dum vivunt voltus atque os in murmura pulsant
Singultus animae, dum lumina nuda rigescunt,
Suffixum caput est, quo mimquam bella iubente

^ Achillas.
486

BOOK VIII

my haste to die? Though you, my husband, are still
alive, Cornelia has already ceased to be free : they
forbid me to summon death, and I am kept alive for
Caesar." Thus she spoke, and was carried away,
swooning, in friendly arms, while the ship made
haste to fly.

But those who saw the severed head of Magnus
admit that, when the steel clashed on his back and
breast, the majestic beauty of those sacred features,
and the face that frowned at Heaven, suffered no
change ; and that the utmost death could do made
no alteration in the bearing and countenance of the
hero. The head was severed ; for savage Septimius,
in the very doing of his crime, devised a crime still
worse. He slit the covering and unveiled the
sacred features of the dying man ; he seized the
still breathing head and laid the drooping neck
across a thwart. Next, he severed the muscles and
veins and hacked long at the knotted bones ; it was
not yet a knack to send a head spinning with a
sword-cut. But when the neck was severed and
parted from the body, the Egyptian minion ^ claims
this privilege — to carry it in his right hand. A
Roman soldier sinks so low as to take a second
part : he cuts off the sacred head of Pompey with
his cursed sword in order that another may carry
it ! What a depth of ignominy was his ! That the
sacrilegious boy might recognise Magnus, those manly
locks that kings revered and the hair that graced
his noble brow were gripped by the hand ; and,
while the features still showed life and the sobbing
breath drove sound through the lips, and the stark eyes
stiffened, the head was stuck on an Egyptian pike —
that head, whose call to war ever banished peace ;

487

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Pax fuit ; hoc leges Campumque et rostra movebat, 686

Hac facie, Fortuna, tibi, Roiiiana^ placebas.

Nee satis infando fuit hoc vidisse ty'ranno :

Volt sceleris superesse fidem. Tunc arte nefanda

Summota est capiti tabes, raptoque cerebro

Adsiccata cutis, putrisqiie effluxit ab alto 690

Umor, et infuso facies solidata veneno est.

Ultima Lageae stirpis perituraque proles,
Degener, incestae sceptris cessure sorori.
Cum tibi sacrato Macedon servetur in antro
Et regum cineres extructo monte quiescant, 695

Cum Ptolemaeorum manes seriemque pudendam
Pyramides claudant indignaque Mausolea,
Litora Pompeium feriunt, truncusque vadosis
Hue illuc iactatur aquis. Adeone molesta
Totum cura fuit socero servare cadaver ? 700

Hac Fortuna fide Magni tam prosi)era fata
Pertulit, hac ilium summo de culmine rerum
Morte petit cladesque omnes exegit in uno
Saeva die, quibus inmunes tot praestitit annos,
Pompeiusque fuit, qui numquam mixta videret 705

Laeta malis, felix nullo turbante deorum
Et nullo parcente miser ; semel inpulit ilium
Dilata Fortuna manu. Pulsatur harenis,
Carpitur in scopulis hausto per volnera fluctu,
Ludibrium pelagi, nullaque manente figura 710

* The elections, which were hold in the Campu-i MarLius.
^ Alexander the Great.

488

BOOK VIII

the head, which swayed the Senate, the Campus,*
and the Rostrum ; that was the face which the
Fortune of Home was proud to wear. The sight
of it was not enough for the infamous king : he
wislied proof of his guilt to remain. Thereupon,
by their hideous art the blood was drained from the
head, the brain torn out, and the skin dried ; the
corrupting moisture was drawn out from the inmost
parts, and the features were liardened by the infusion
of drugs.

Last scion of the line of Lagus, doomed and de-
generate king; who must surrender your crown to
your incestuous sister, though you preserve the
Macedonian ^ in consecrated vault and the ashes
of the Pharaohs rest beneath a mountain of masonry,
though the dead Ptolemies and their unworthy
dynasty are covered by pyramids and mausoleums
too good for them, Pompey is battered on the shore,
and his headless body is tossed hither and thither
in the shallows. Was it so troublesome a task to
keep the whole body for his kinsman to see.'* So
true to her bargain, did Fortune continue to the
end the prosperity of Magnus; so true to her
bargain, she summoned him at his death from his
pinnacle of glory, and ruthlessly made him pay in
a single day for all the disasters from which she
protected hnn for many years ; and Pompey was the
only man who never experienced good and evil
together : his prosperity no god disturbed, and on
his misery no god had mercy. Fortune held her
hand for long and then overthrew him with one
blow. He is tossed on the sands and mangled on
the rocks, while his wounds drink in the wave ; he
is the plaything of Ocean, and, when all shape is

489

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Una nota est Magno capitis iactura revolsi.

Ante tamen Pharias victor quam taiigat harenas,
Pompeio raptim tumulum fortuna paravit,
Ne iaceat nullo vel ne meliore sepulchre :
E latebris pavidus decurrit ad aequora Cordus.
Quaestor ab Icario Cinyreae litore Cypri
Infaustus Magni fuerat comes. Ille per umbras
Ausus ferre gradum victum pietate timorem
Conpulit, ut mediis quaesitum corpus in undis
Duceret ad terram traheretque in litora Magnum.
Lucis maesta parum per densas Cynthia nubes
Praebebat ; cano sed discolor aequore truncus
Conspicitur. Tenet ille ducem conplexibus artis
Eripiente mari ; tunc victus pondere tanto
Expectat fluctus pelagoque iuvante cadaver
Inpellit. Postquam sicco iam litore sedit,
Incubuit Magno lacrimasque effudit in omne
Volnus, et ad superos obscuraque sidera fatur :
** Non pretiosa petit cumulate ture sepulchra
Pompeius, Fortuna, tuus, non pinguis ad astra
Ut ferat e membris Eoos fumus odores,
Ut Romana suum gestent pia col la parentem,
Praeferat ut veteres feralis pompa triumphos,
Ut resonent tristi cantu fora, totus ut ignes
Proiectis maerens exercitus ambiat armis.
Da vilem Magno plebei funeris arcam,
Quae lacerum corpus siccos effundat in ignes ;

^ The meaning of this epithet is unknown.
' I.e. not fed with spices.

490

BOOK VIII

lost, the one mark to identify Magnus is the absence
of the severed head.

But before Caesar could reach the sands of
Egypt, Fortune devised a hasty burial for Pompey,
that he might not lack a tomb, or that he might
not have a better. In fear and haste Cordus came
down from his hiding-place to the sea ; as quaestor
he had made the ill-starred voyage with Magnus
from the Icarian^ shore of Cyprus, where Cinyras
once reigned. Under cover of darkness he dared to
come, and forced his fear, mastered by duty, to seek
the body amid the waves, and draw it to land and
drag Magnus to the shore. A sad moon shed but
scanty light through thick clouds ; but the headless
body was visible by its different colour in the foam-
ing waves. He grasped his leader tight against the
snatching of the sea ; then, unequal to that mighty
burden, he waited for a wave and then pushed on
the body with the sea to help him. When it came
to rest above the water-line, he cast himself upon
Magnus, pouring tears into every wound ; and thus
he addressed Heaven and the dim stars : " No costly
pyre with heaped -up incense does your favourite,
Pompey, ask of you. Fortune ; he does not ask that
the rich smoke should carry to the stars Eastern
perfumes from his limbs; that devoted Romans
should bear on their shoulders the dear father of
his country ; that the funeral procession should
display his former trophies ; that the Forum should
be filled with mournful music ; or that a whole army,
with dropped arms, should march mourning round
the burning pile. But grant to Magnus the paltry
bier of a pauper's burial, to let down the mutilated
body on the unfed ^ fires ; let not the hapless corpse

491

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Robora non desint misero nee sordidus ustor.

Sit satis, o superi, quod non Cornelia fuse

Crine iacet subicique facem conplexa maritura 740

Imperat, extremo sed abest a munere busti

Infelix coniunx nee adhuc a litore longe est."

Sic fatus parvos iuvenis procul aspicit ignes

Corpus vile suis nullo custode cremantes.

Inde rapit flammas semustaque robora raembris 745

Subducit. " Quaecumque es," ait '^ neglecta nee ulli

Cara tuo sed Pompeio felicior umbra,

Quod iam conpositum violat manus hospita bustum,

Da veniam ; si quid sensus post fata relictum,

Cedis et ipsa rogo paterisque haec damna sepulchri, 750

Teque pudet sparsis Pompei manibus uri."

Sic fatus plenusque sinus ardente favilla

Pervolat ad truncura, qui fluctu paene relatus

Litore pendebat. Sumraas dimovit harenas

Et collecta procul lacerae fragmenta carinae 755

Exigua trepidus posuit scrobe. Nobile corpus

Robora nulla premunt, nulla strue membra recurabunt :

Admotus Magnum, non subditus, accipit ignis.

llle sedens iuxta flammas " O maxime " dixit

" Ductor et Hesperii maiestas nominis una, 760

Si tibi iactatu pelagi, si funere nullo

Tristior iste rogus, manes animamque potentera

Officiis averte meis : iniuria fati

Hoc fas esse iubet ; ne ponti belua quidquam,

Ne fera, ne volucres, ne saevi Caesaris ira 765

492

BOOK VIII

lack wood or a mean hand to kindle it. Be content
with this, ye gods, that Cornelia does not lie pros-
trate with dishevelled hair — does not embrace her
husband and bid the torch be applied ; that his un-
happy wife, though still not far distant from the
shore, is not here to pay her last tribute to the
dead." When the youth had spoken thus, he saw
at a distance a feeble fire that was burning a corpse
uncared for and unguarded. Thence he took fire in
haste and drew the charred logs from beneath the
body. " Whoever you are," he said, " uncared for
and unloved by any of your kin, but yet more
fortunate after death than Pompey, pardon the
stranger hand that robs your pyre once laid. If
aught of feeling survives death, you willingly resign
your pyre and permit this robbery of your grave ;
and you are ashamed, when the body of Pompey
is divided, to find cremation yourself." I'hus he
spoke, and having filled his lap with the burning
embers he flew back to the body, which, as it hung
upon the shore, had nearly been carried back by a
wave. He scraped away the surface of the sand,
and hastily laid in a narrow trench the pieces of a
broken boat which he had gathered at a distance.
No wood supports that famous corpse, on no pile
are the limbs laid ; the fire that receives Magnus is
not laid beneath him but beside him. Sitting near
the fire, Cordus said : " Mighty captain and un-
equalled glory of the Roman people, if this pyre
is more distressful to you than to be tossed by the
sea, or than no burial at all, then turn away your
spirit and your mighty ghost from the service I
render ; the wrong of Fate makes this right ; that
no sea monster or beast or bird or wrath of cruel

493

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Audeat, exiguam, quantum potes, accipe flammam,
Romana succense manu. Fortuna recursus
Si det in Hesperiam, non hac in sede quiescent
Tarn sacri cineres, sed te Cornelia, Magne,
Accipiet nostraque manu transfundet in urnam. 770

Interea parvo signemus litora saxo,
Ut nota sit busti ; si quis placare peremptum
Forte volet plenos et reddere mortis honores,
Inveniat trunci cineres et norit harenas,
Ad quas, Magne, tuum referat caput." Haec ubi fatus,
Excitat invalidas admoto fomite flammas. 776

Carpitur et lentum Magnus destillat in ignem
Tabe fovens bustum. Sed iam percusserat astra
Aurorae praemissa dies : ille ordine rupto
Funeris attonitus latebras in litore quaerit. 780

Quam metuis, demens, isto pro crimine poenam.
Quo te fama loquax omnes accepit in annos ?
Condita laudabit Magni socer inpius ossa :
I modo securus veniae fassusque sepulchrum
Posce caput. Cogit pietas inponere finem 786

Officio. Semusta rapit resolutaque nondum
Ossa satis nervis et inustis plena meduUis
Aequorea restinguit aqua congestaque in unum
Parva clusit humo. Tunc, ne levis aura retectos
Auferret cineres, saxo conpressit harenam, 790

Nautaque ne bustum religato fune moveret,
Inscfipsit sacrum semusto stipite nomen :
"Hie situs est Magnus." Placet hoc, Fortuna, sepul-
chrum

^ What is known in the l*>ast as " false dawn."
494

r

BOOK VIII

Caesar may make bold, accept all that is possible
for you — this scanty flame ; a Roman hand has
kindled your corpse. If Fortune grant us a return
to Italy, not here will these sacred ashes rest ; but
Cornelia will recover you, Magnus, and will transfer
them from my hand to an urn. Meanwhile, let me
mark the place on the shore with a small stone to
be a token of your grave ; if any man haply desires
to make atonement to your spirit and give you your
due of funeral honours, let him find the ashes of the
body, and recognise the strand to which he must
restore your head." Having spoken thus, he
brightens the feeble flame with a fresh supply of
fuel. Slowly the body of Magnus is consumed and
melts into the fire, feeding the flame with the
dissolving flesh. But by now the daylight^ which
precedes the dawn had smitten the stars ; and he
broke off the rites and sought in terror his hiding-
place upon the shore. What punishment do you
dread, poor fool, for your crime, because of which
the voice of Fame has made you welcome for all
time to come ? His unnatural kinsman will approve
the burial of Pompey's bones. Nay go, secure of
pardon, confess that you buried him, and demand
the head. — Duty compels him to complete his service.
He snatched the charred bones not yet entirely
parted from the muscles, and quenched them, full
of the scorched marrow, with sea water; then he
piled them together and hid them beneath a handful
of earth. Next, lest a light breeze should bare and
scatter the ashes, he planted a stone in the sand ;
and that no sailor might disturb the tomb by moor-
ing his bark there, he used a charred stick to write
the sacred name upon it : " Here Magnus lies." Is
it the will of Fortune to call this the grave of

495

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Dicere Pompei^ quo condi maluit ilium

Quam terra caruisse socer ? Temeraria dextra, 795

Cur obicis Magno tumulum manesque vagantes

Includis ? Situs est, qua terra extrema refuso

Pendet in Oceano ; Romanum nomen et omne

Imperium Magno tumuli est modus ; obrue saxa

Crimine plena deum. Si tota est Herculis Oete 800

Et iuga tota vacant Bromio Nyseia, quare

Unus in Aegypto Magni lapis ? omnia Lagi

Arva tenere potest, si nuUo caespite nomen

Haeserit. Erremus populi cinerumque tuorum,

Magne, metu nullas Nili calcemus harenas. 805

Quod si tam sacro dignaris nomine saxum,

Adde actus tantos monumentaque maxima rerum,

Adde trucis Lepidi motus Alpinaque bella

Armaque Sertori revocato consule victa

Et currus, quos egit eques, commercia tuta 810

Gentibus et pavidos Cilicas maris ; adde subactam

Barbariem gentesque vagas et quidquid in Euro

Regnorum Boreaque iacet. Die semper ab armis

Civilem repetisse togam, ter curribus actis

Contentum multos patriae donasse triumphos. 815

Quis capit haec tumulus ? surgit miserabile bustum

Non ullis plenum titulis, non ordine tanto

Fastorum ; solitumque legi super alta deorum

Culmina et extructos spoliis hostilibus arcus

Haud procul est ima Pompei nomen harena 820

^ As a worse outrage.
496

BOOK VIII

Pompey— this grave which Caesar preferred^ for
his son-in-law to no burial at all ? Rash hand, why
do you thrust a tomb on Magnus, and imprison the
spirit that roams free ? His burial-place extends as
far as the most distant land that floats on the circling
stream of Ocean ; the Roman name and all the
Roman empire are the limit of Pompey's grave.
Away with that stone, eloquent in reproach of
Heaven ! If all Oeta belongs to Hercules, and the
hills of Nysa own no lord but Bacchus alone, why is
there but a single stone in Egypt for Magnus ? He
can fill all the kingdom of Lagus, if his name were
fixed upon no grave. Then mankind would be in
doubt, and, from fear to tread on the ashes of
Magnus, we should avoid altogether the sands of
Nile. But, if you think the stone worthy of that
sacred name, tlien add his great achievements and
the records of his mighty deeds ; add the rising of
fierce Lepidus and the Alpine war ; the victory over
Sertorius, when the consul was recalled, and the
triumph which he celebrated while yet a knight;
. write of commerce made safe for all nations, and
of the Cilicians scared from the sea. Tell how he
subdued the barbarian world, and nomad peoples,
and all the rulers of East and North. Say that ever
after war he donned again the citizen's gown, and
that, content with three triumphal pageants, he
excused his country many triumphs. What tomb
has room for all this? There rises a pitiful grave-
stone, rich with no records or long roll of offices;
and the name of Pompey, which men were wont to
read upon lofty temples of the gods and upon arches
reared with spoils of our foes, — that name is little
raised above the lowly sand^ and set so low upon

497

VOL. 1. R

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Depressum tumulo, quod non legat advena rectus.
Quod nisi monstratum Romanus transeat hospes.

Noxia civili tell us Aegyptia fato,
Haud equidem inmerito Cumanae carmine vatis
Cautum, ne Nili Pelusia tangeret ora 825

Hesperius miles ripasque aestate tumentes.
Quid tibi, saeva, precer pro tanto crimine, tellus ?
Vertat aquas Nilus quo nascitur orbe retentus,
Et steriles egeant hibernis imbribus agri,
Totaque in Aethiopum putres solvaris harenas. 830

Nos in templa tuam Romana recepimus Isim
Semideosque canes et sistra iubentia luctus
Et, quem tu plangens hominem testaris, Osirim :
Tu nostros, Aegypte, tenes in pulvere manes.
Tu quoque, cum saevo dederis iam templa tyranno, 835
Nondum Pompei cineres, o Roma, petisti ;
Exul adhuc iacet umbra ducis. Si saecula prima
Victoris timuere minas, nunc excipe saltem
Ossa tui Magni, si nondum subruta fluctu
In visa tellure sedent. Quis busta timebit, 840

Quis sacris dignam movisse verebitur umbram ?
Imperet hoc nobis utinam scelus et velit uti
Nostro Roma sinu : satis o nimiumque beatus,
Si mihi contingat manes transferre revolsos
Ausoniam, si tale ducis violare sepulchrum. 845

Forsitan, aut sulco sterili cum poscere finem
A superis aut Roma volet feralibus Austris
Ignibus aut nimiis aut terrae tecta moventi,
Consilio iussuque deum transibis in urbem,

^ Caesar.
498

i

BOOK VIII

the grave that a stranger must stoop to read it,
and a visitor from Rome would pass it by if it were
not pointed out.

O land of Egypt, guilty of the destinies of civil
war, with good reason did the Sibyl of Cumae warn
us in her verse, that no Roman soldier should visit
the mouths of the Nile in Eorypt, and those banks
which the summer floods. What curse can I invoke
upon that ruthless land in reward for so great a
crime ? May Nile reverse his waters and be stayed
in the region where he rises ; may the barren fields
crave winter rains ; and may all the soil break up
into the crumbling sands of Ethiopia. Though we
have admitted to Roman temples your Isis and your
dogs half divine, the rattle which bids the worship-
per wail, and the Osiris whom you prove to be
mortal by mourning for him, yet you, Egypt, keep
our dead a prisoner in your dust. Rome too, though
she has already given a temple to the cruel tyrant,^
has not yet claimed the ashes of Pompey, and his
ghost still lies in exile. If the first generation
dreaded Caesar's threats, now at least let her
welcome the bones of her beloved Magnus, if they
still remain in that hated land and are not yet
washed away by the sea. Who will fear to trouble
the tomb, and dread to remove the dead so worthy
of worship? Oh, that Rome would bid me do this
wrong, and deign to make use of my arms ! Happy,
too happy, should I be, if it were mine to unearth
the remains and convey them to Italy, and to
violate a tomb so unworthy of them. Perhaps,
when Rome shall pray from Heaven a cure for
barren fields or pestilential winds or excessive heats
or earthquake, then, at the advice and bidding of

499

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Magne, tuam, summusque feret tua busta sacerdos. 850

Nam quis ad exustam Cancro torrente Syenen

Ibit et imbrifera siccas sub Pliade Thebas

Spectator Nili, quis rubri stagna profundi

Aut Arabum portus mercis mutator Eoae,

Magne, petet, quern non tumuli venerabile saxum 855

Et cinis in summis forsan turbatus harenis

Avertet manesque tuos placare iubebit

Et Casio praeferre lovi ? Nil ista nocebunt

Famae busta tuae : templis auroque sepultus

Vilior umbra fores. Nunc est pro numine summo 860

Hoc tumulo Fortuna iacens : augustius aris

Victoris Libyco pulsatur in aequore saxum.

Tarpeis qui saepe deis sua tura negarunt,

Inclusum Tusco venerantur caespite fulmen.

Proderit hoc olim, quod non mansura futuris 865

Ardua marmoreo surrexit pondere moles.

Pulveris exigui sparget non longa vetustas

Congeriem, bustumque cadet, mortisque peribunt

Argumenta tuae. Veniet felicior aetas.

Qua sit nulla fides saxum monstrantibus illud ; 870

Atque erit Aegyptus populis fortasse nepotum

Tam mendax Magni tumulo quam Creta Tonantis.

^ Of Mount Casion, near Pelusium.

* Fortune is here identified with her favourite, Pompey.

^ That is, the place struck by lightning : the Romans called
such a place bidental or puteal, and treated it as cdmecrated
ground.

* The Cretans pointed out a place in their island which was
said to be the tomb of Zeus (Jupiter).

500

BOOK VIII

the gods, you will pass, MagDus, to your loved city,
and the chief Pontiff will bear your ashes. Even
now, if any man travels to Syene, parched by
flaming Cancer, and to Thebes, unwetted even
under the rain-bearing Pleiads, in order to behold
the Nile ; if any man seeks the quiet waters of the
Red Sea or the ports of Arabia to traffic in Eastern
wares — that gravestone, and those ashes, perhaps
disturbed and lying on the surface of the sand, will
call him aside to worship, and bid him appease the
spirit of Magnus, and give it tlie preference over
Casian ^ Jupiter. That grave will never mar his
fame ; the dead would be less precious if buried in
temples and gold. Fortune, lying in this tomb, is
now at last a supreme deity ; ^ prouder than all
Caesar's altars is the sea-beaten stone on the shore
of Africa. Many, who deny to the deities of the
Ca{)itol the incense which is their due, worship the
thunderbolt^ fenced in by the augur's turf. One
day it will prove a gain that no lofty pile of
massive marble was raised here to last for ever.
For a short space of time will scatter the little heap
of dust ; the grave will fall in ; and all proof of
Pompey's death will be lost. A happier age will
come, when those who point out that stone will be
disbelieved, and perhaps our descendants will con-
sider Egypt as false in her tale of Pompey's tomb
as Crete when she claims the tomb of Jupiter.*

50 •

BOOK IX

LIBER NONUS

At non in Pharia manes iacuere favilla,

Nee cinis exiguus tantam conpescuit umbrara :

Prosiluit busto semustaque membra relinquens

Degeneremqiie rogum sequitur convexa Tonantis.

Qua niger astriferis conectitur axibus aer 6

Quodque patet terras inter lunaeque meatus,

Semidei manes habitant, quos ignea virtus

Innocuos vita patientes aetheris imi

Fecit, et aeternos animam coilegit in orbes :

Non illuc auro positi nee ture sepulti 10

Perveniunt. Illic postquam se lumine vero

Inplevit, stellasque vagas miratus et astra

Fixa polis, vidit quanta sub nocte iaceret

Nostra dies, risitque sui ludibria trunci.

Hinc super Emathiae campos et signa cruenti 16

Caesaris ac sparsas volitavit in aequore classes,

Et scelerum vindex in sancto pectore Bruti

Sedit et invicti posuit se mente Catonis.

Ille, ubi pendebant casus dubiumque manebat,
Quem dominum mundi facerent civilia bella, 20

Oderat et Magnum, quamvis comes isset in arma

^ The Stoics taught that the souls of the virtuous ascend to
the moon's orbit, at which the dark air ends and tiie bright
ether begins.

BOOK IX

But the spirit of Pompey did not linger down
in Egypt among the embers, nor did that handful
of ashes prison his mighty ghost. Soaring up from
the burning-place, it left the charred limbs and
unworthy pyre behind, and sought the dome of the
Thunderer. Where our dark atmosphere — the
intervening space between earth and the moon's orbit
— joins on to the starry spheres, there after death
dwell heroes, whose fiery quality has fitted them,
after guiltless lives, to endure the lower limit of
ether, and has brought their souls from all parts to
the eternal splieres : ^ to those who are coffined in
gold and buried with incense that realm is barred.
When he had steeped himself in the true light of
that region, and gazed at the planets and the fixed
stars of heaven, he saw the thick darkness that veils
our day, and smiled at the mockery done to his
headless body. Then his spirit flew above the field
of Pharsalia, the standards of bloodthirsty Caesar,
and the ships scattered over the sea, till it settled,
as the avenger of guilt, in the righteous breast of
Brutus, and took up its abode in the heart of
unconquerable Cato.

While the issue remained uncertain, and none
could tell whom the civil war would make master
of the world, Cato hated Magnus as well as
Caesar, though he had been swept away by his

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Auspiciis raptus patriae ductiique senatus ;

At post Thessalicas clades iam pectore toto

Pompeianus erat. Patriam tutore carentem

Excepit, populi trepidantia membra refovit, 26

Ignavis manibus proiectos reddidit enses,

Nee regnum cupiens gessit civilia bella

Nee servire timens. Nil causa fecit in armis

Ille sua : totae post Magni funera partes

Libertatis erant. Quas ne per litora fusas 30

Colligeret rapido victoria Caesaris actu,

Corcyrae secreta petit ac mille carinis

Abstulit Emathiae secum fragmeiita ruinae.

Quis ratibus tantis fugientia crederet ire

Agmina ? quis pelagus victas artasse carinas ? 35

Dorida tunc Malean et apertam Taenaron umbris,
Inde Cythera petit, Boreaque urguente carinas
Graia^ fugit, Dictaea legit cedentibus undis
Litora. Tunc ausum classi praecludere portus
Inpulit ac saevas meritum Phycunta rapinas 40

Sparsit, et hinc placidis alto delabitur auris
In litus, Palinure, tuum, — neque enim aequore tantum
Ausonio monumenta tenes, portusque quietos
Testatur Libye Phrygio placuisse magistro— •
Cum procul ex alto tendentes vela carinae 46

Ancipites tenuere animos, sociosne malorum

1 Graia Housman : Greta M88.

^ I.e. a fleet carrying men who had been defeated.
* Paliurus seems to be the right name of the cape in Africa ;
Palinurus is a promontory on the coast of Lucauia.

506

BOOK IX

country's cause to follow the Senate to Pompey's
camp ; but now, after the defeat of Pharsalia, he
favoured Pompey with his whole heart. When his
country had no guardian, he took her in charge ;
he revived the trembling limbs of the nation, and
replaced the swords that coward hands had thrown
down ; and he carried on the civil war, without
either seeking to be a tyrant or fearing to be a
slave. He did naught in arms to serve his own
ends ; after the death of Magnus the whole party
was the party of freedom. But they were scattered
round the coasts ; and, that victorious Caesar might
not pick them all up in his rapid progress, Cato
sought the retirement of Corcyra and carried away
with him in a thousand ships the wreck of the
disaster at Pharsalia. Who would have believed
that an army, conveyed on so many vessels, was in
flight, or that the sea had proved too narrow for
a vanquished fleet .''^

Next he went to Malea of the Dorians and
Taenarus wher-e the dead may rise, and thence
to Cythera, As the North wind sped on his keels,
he shunned the shore of Greece and sailed along
the coast of Crete, and the waves gave way before
them. Then, when Phycus dared to close its
harbour against the fleet, he overthrew it and laid
in ruins a town which deserved to be sacked with-
out mercy. Gentle breezes wafted him along the
sea from here to the coast of Palinurus^ (for his
memory is preserved not only in Italian waters, and
Atiica bears witness that her peaceful harbour found
favour with the Trojan steersman). Then the sight
of ships sailing far out at sea kept them in suspense :
were thoiie crews partners in misfortune or enemies?

507

iM. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

An veherent hostes : praeceps facit omne timendum

Victor, et in nulla non creditur esse carina.

Ast illae puppes luctus planctusque ferebant

Et mala vel duri lacrimas motura Catonis. 50

Nam postquam frustra precibus Cornelia nautas
Privignique fugam tenuit, ne forte repulsus
Litoribus Phariis remearet in aequora truncus,
Ostenditque rogum non iusti flamma sepulchri,
" Ergo indigna fui," dixit, " Fortuna, marito 65

Accendisse rogum gelidosque eiFusa per artus
Incubuisse viro, laceros exurere crines
Membraque dispersi pelago conponere Magni^
Volneribus cunctis largos infundere fletus,
Ossibus et tepida vestes inplere favilla, 60

Quidquid ab exstincto licuisset tollere busto
In templis sparsura deum ? Sine funeris ullo
Ardet honore rogus ; manus hoc Aegyptia forsan
Obtulit officium grave manibus. O bene nudi
Crassorum cineres ! Pompeio contigit ignis 66

Invidia maiore deum. Similisne malorum
Sors mihi semper erit? numquam dare iusta licebit
Coniugibus ? numquam plenas plangemus ad urnas ?
Quid porro tumulis opus est aut ulla requiris
Instrumenta, dolor ? non toto in pectore portas, 70

Inpia, Pompeium } non imis haeret imago
Visceribus ? quaerat cineres victura superstes.
Nunc tamen hinc longe qui fulget luce maligna
Ignis adhuc aliquid Phario de litore surgens

508

BOOK IX

The speed of Caesar makes everything dreadful, and
they are convinced of his presence on every ship
No, these vessels were freighted with mourning and
lamentation, and with a sorrow that might draw
tears even from stern Cato.

For after Cornelia's prayers had fruitlessly stayed
the flight of the sailors and her stepson, lest haply
the corpse might be driven out to sea from the
Egyptian shore, and when the flame revealed the
pyre of those maimed rites, then she reproached
Fortune : " Unworthy then was I to kindle my
husband's pyre, to bend over the cold limbs, and
throw myself upon the body ; unworthy to burn my
torn tresses, to gather the limbs of Magnus scattered
in the sea, to pour a flood of tears into every
wound, and to fill my bosom with the bones and
warm ashes, with the purpose of sprinkling in the
temples of the gods whatever I might gather from
the extinguished flame. The pyre burns on with no
funeral honours ; perhaps some Egyptian hand prof-
fered this service which the dead resents. Well is it
that the remains of the Crassi lie unburied ; the fire
that was granted to Pompey shows greater spite on
the part of Heaven. Shall my sad lot ever repeat
itself? Shall I never be allowed to give due
burial to a husband? Shall I never mourn over an
urn that contains ashes? But what need is there of
a grave, or why does grief require any trappings ?
Do I not, undutiful wife, carry Pompey in my whole
breast? Does not his image cling to my inmost
heart ? Let a wife who intends to survive her
husband seek his ashes. But now this fire, which
shines far away with scanty light, as it rises from
the Egyptian shore, still shows me some part of

509

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Ostendit mihi, Magne, tui ; iam flamma resedit, 76

Pompeiumque ferens vanescit solis ad ortus
Fumus, et invisi tendunt mihi carbasa venti.
Linquere, si qua fides, Pelusia litora nolo. 83

Non mihi nunc tellus Pompeio si qua triumphos
Victa dedit, non alta terens Capitolia currus 80

Gratior ; elapsus felix de pectore Magnus :
Hunc volumus, queni Nilus habet, terraeque nocenti
Non haerere queror ; crimen commendat harenas.
Tu pete bellorum casus et signa per orbem,
Sexte, paterna move ; namque haec mandata reliquit 85
Pompeius vobis in nostra condita cura :
' Me cum fatalis leto damnaverit hora^
Excipite, o nati, bellum civile, nee umqnam,
Dum terris aliquis nostra de stirpe manebit,
Caesaribus regnare vacet. Vel sceptra vel urbes 90

Libertate sua validas inpellite fama
Nominis : has vobis partes, haec arma relinquo.
Inveniet classes, quisquis Pompeius in undas
Venerit, et noster nullis non gentibus heres
Bella dabit : tantum indoraitos memoresque paterni 96
luris habete animos. Uni parere decebit.
Si faciet partes pro libertate, Catoni.'
Exsolvi tibi, Magne, fidem, mandata peregi.
Insidiae valuere tuae, deceptaque vixi,
Ne mihi commissas auferrem perfida voces. 100

lam nunc te per inane chaos, per Tartara, coniunx,

^ The triumphal car of Pompey.

« She implies that Pompey gave her this commission in order
to prevent her from committing suicide.

5IO

BOOK IX

you, Magnus. The flame has now died down, and
the smoke that carries Pompey away fades at sun-
rise, and the hated winds are stretching the sails
of my ship. With sorrow (if my words may be
beheved) 1 leave the coast of Egypt. More welcome
is it to me than any conquered country which pro-
vided Pompey with triumphs, more welcome than
the car^ which rolled over the pavement of the
lofty Capitol. The Magnus of prosperous days has
passed from my memoiy ; the Magnus I require is
he whom the Nile possesses; and 1 complain that I
may not cling to the guilty land ; its very guilt
endears the strand to me. 1 bid you, Sextus, face
the hazards of war and carry on your father's war-
fare over all the world. For Pompey left this
message for his sons, and it is treasured up in my
memory: 'When the destined hour shall have
condemned me to death, I bid you, my sons, take
over civil war ; and never, while any scion of my
stock remains on earth, let the Caesars reign in
peace. Rouse up by the glory of our name either
kings or States that are strong in their own
freedom ; I leave you this part to play and these
resources. A Pompey who takes to the sea will
always find fleets, and my successor shall rouse all
nations to war ; only let your hearts be ever tame-
less and mindful of your father's power. Cato, and
Cato alone, you may fitly obey, if he shall rally a
party in defence ot freedom.' 1 have fulfilled my
promise to Magnus and done his bidding ; his
device ^ has been successful, and thus deceived I
lived on, that 1 might not break faith and carry to
the grave the words of his message. But now I
will loUow my husband through empty chaos and

511

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Si sunt ulla^ sequar, quam longo tradita leto,
Incertiim est : poenas animae vivacis ab ipsa
Anteferam. Potuit cernens tua funera, Magne,
Non fugere in mortem : planctu eontusa peribit, 105
Effluet in lacrimas : nmnquam veniemus ad enses
Aut laqueos aut praecipites per inania iactus.
Turpe mori post te solo non posse dolore."
Sic ubi fata, caput ferali obduxit amictu
Decrevitque pati tenebras puppisque cavernis 110

Delituit, saevumque arte conplexa dolorem
Perfruitur lacrimis et amat pro coniuge luctum.
Illam non fluctus stridensque rudentibus Eurus
Movit et exsurgens ad summa pericula clamor,
Votaque soUicitis faciens contraria nautis 115

Conposita in mortem iacuit favitque procellis.

Prima ratem Cypros spumantibus accipit undis ;
Inde tenens pelagus, sed iam moderatior, Eurus
In Libycas egit sedes et castra Catonis.
Tristis, ut in multo mens est praesaga timore, 120

Aspexit patrios comites a litore Magnus
Et fratrem ; medias praeceps tunc fertur in undas :
" Die, ubi sit, germane, parens ; stat summa caputque
Orbis, an occidimus Romanaque Magnus ad umbras
Abstulit ? " Haec fatur ; quem contra talia frater : 125
" O felix, quem sors alias dispersit in oras
Quique nefas audis : oculos, germane, nocentes

* Gnaeus the elder sou.
512

BOOK IX

through Tartarus, if such a place there be. How
distant the death to which I am doomed^ I know
not ; ere it comes, I shall punish my life for lasting
too long. It had the heart to see Magnus murdered
and not to take refuge in death ; it shall end,
bruised by blows from my hands ; it shall melt away
in tears ; never shall I resort to the sword or noose
or a headlong fall through the air; shame to me it
I cannot die of grief alone, when he is dead."
When she had spoken thus, she covered her head
with a mourning veil ; determined to endure dark-
ness, she hid in the hold of the ship, and, clasping
closely her cruel sorrow, she makes tears her joy
and loves her grief in place of her husband. Heed-
less of the waves, of the East wind that howled
in the rigging, and of the shouting that rose higher
as the danger grew, she lay in the attitude of
death ; what the frightened sailors prayed to escape,
she prayed to suffer ; and she took the side of the
storms.

Cyprus with its foaming waves first received their
ship ; and then the East wind, still ruling the sea
but with less fury, drove them to the land of Libya
and Cato's camp. From the shore young Magnus ^
looked in sorrow, for the mind that fears intensely
forebodes evil, at his brother and the companions of
his father ; then he rushed headlong right into the
waves. " Brother, say where is our father. Is the
head and crown of the world still standing, or are
we destroyed, and has Magnus taken with him to
the shades all that was Rome?" Thus Gnaeus
spoke ; and his brother answered him : " Happy are
you, whom destiny drove to other lands, and who
only hear the horror : my eyes are guilty, brother,

5'3

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Spectato genitore fero. Non Caesaris armis
Occubuit dignoque perit auctore ruinae :
Rege sub inpuro Nilotica rura tenente,
Hospitii fretus superis et munere tanto
In proavos, cecidit donati victima regni.
Vidi ego magnanimi lacerantes pectora patris,
Nee credens Pharium tantum potuisse tyraniiuni
Litore Niliaco socerum iam stare putavi.
Sed me nee sanguis nee tantum volnera nostri
Adfecere senis, quantum gestata per urbem
Ora ducis, quae transfixo sublimia pilo
Vidimus ; haec fama est oculis victoris iniqui
Servari, scelerisque fidem quaesisse tyrannum.
Nam corpus Phariaene canes avidaeque volucres
Distulerint, an furtivus, quem vidimus, ignis
Solvent, ignoro. Quaecumque iniuria fati
Abstulit hos artus, superis haec crimina dono :
Servata de parte queror." Cum talia Magnus
Audisset, non in gemitus lacrimasque dolorem
Effudit, iustaque furens pietate profatur :
" Praecipitate rates e sicco litore, nautae ;
Classis in adversos erumpat remige ventos.
Ite, duces, mecum (nusquam civilibus armis
Tanta fuit merces) inhumatos condere manes.
Sanguine semiviri Magnum satiare tyranni.
Non ego Pellaeas arces adytisque retectum
Corpus Alexandri pigra Mareotide mergam ?

1 See n. to v. 60.

BOOK IX

because they looked on at my father's death. He
did not fall by Caesar's arms, and no worthy hand
laid him low. In the power of the foul monarch
who rules the land of Nile, relying on the gods of
hospitality and on the great boon he had conferred
upon the dynasty, he fell, to atone for having given
to them the crown. These eyes saw them hacking
at the breast of our noble father ; and, not believing
that the king of Egypt had possessed such power as
that, I supposed that Caesar already stood on the
shore of the Nile. But the blood and wounds of
our aged sire moved me less than the carrying of
his head through the city : I saw it borne aloft on a
pike driven through it ; men said that it was being
kept for the cruel conqueror to view, and that the
king desired proof of his crime. As to the body, I
know not whether the dogs and greedy vultures of
Egypt tore it to pieces, or whether it was destroyed
by the surreptitious fire that we saw. Whatever
outrage of destiny made away with those limbs, I
pardon Heaven for that crime ; but I complain of
the part that was preserved." When young Magnus
heard such a tale, he did not pour forth his grief in
groans or tears ; but, maddened by rightful love for
a father, he cried : " Hurry down your ships, ye
sailors, from the dry land ; driven by the rowers, let
the fleet burst out in the teeth of the wind : and
go forth with me, ye leaders — nowhere was so great
a prize offered to the fighters in civil war — to inter
the unburied body of Magnus and appease his anger
with the blood of the effeminate king. Shall I not
drag forth the body of Alexander from its shrine and
sink it, together with the Macedonian ^ city, beneath
the sluggish waters of Lake Mareotis .'' Shall I not

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Non mihi pyramidum tumulis evolsus Amasis
Atque alii reges Nilo torrente natabunt?
Omnia dent poenas nudo tibi, Magne, sepulchra.
Evolvam busto iam numen gentibus Isim
Et tectum lino spargam per volgus Osirim,
Suppositisque deis uram caput. Has mihi poenas
Terra dabit : linquam vacuos cultoribus agros.
Nee, Nilus cui crescat;, erit, solusque tenebis
Aegypton, genitor, populis superisque fugatis,"
Dixerat et classem saevus rapiebat in undas ;
Sed Cato laudatam iuvenis conpescuit iram.

Interea totis audito funere Magni
Litoribus sonuit percussus planctibus aether,
Exemploque carens et nulli cognitus aevo
Luctus erat, mortem populos deflere potentis.
Sed magis, ut visa est lacrimis exhausta, solutas
In voltus efFusa comas, Cornelia puppe
Egrediens, rursus geminato verbere plangunt.
Ut primum in sociae pervenit litora terrae,
Collegit vestes miserique insignia Magni
Armaque et inpressas auro, quas gesserat olim,
Exuvias pictasque togas, velamina summo
Ter conspecta lovi, funestoque intulit igni.
Ille iuit miserae Magni cinis. Accipit omnis
Exemplum pietas, et toto litore busta

^ In Pompey's three triumphs.

516

BOOK IX

hale out Amasis and the other kings from their
tombs in the Pyramids, and send them swimming
down the current of the Nile ? Let all their tombs
make atonement to Magnus who has none at all. I
shall rifle the grave of Isis, now worshipped over the
world ; the limbs of Osiris, swathed in linen, I shall
scatter in the public streets ; I shall lay the gods as
fuel whereon to burn my father's head. And the
land I shall punish too ; I shall leave their fields
with none to till them ; the Nile shall rise, and there
shall be none to use it ; men and gods shall be
expelled from Egypt, and you, my father, alone shall
possess the land." Thus he spoke, and sought in his
rage to launch the ships with speed ; but Cato,
while praising the youth, restrained his fury.

Meanwhile, when the death of Pompey was
reported, all along the shore the sound of beaten
breasts was heard, till the sky rang with it ; un-
exampled was that mourning, and unknown to any
age — that the common people should lament the
death of a great man. But when Cornelia was
seen disembarking, having wept till she could weep
no more, and with her loosened hair falling down
over her face, still more the people renewed their
lamentation with redoubled blows. As soon as she
reached the shore of a friendly land, she gathered
together the garments and badges of her hapless
husband, his weapons, and the robes, embroidered
with gold, which he once had worn, and the toga of
many colours — the dress which supreme Jupiter had
thrice beheld ^ — and placed them all upon a funeral
fire. They were the ashes of her husband to her
sad heart. Her example was followed by all loving
hearts ; and pyres were raised all along the shore,

5A7

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Surgunt Thessalicis reddentia manibus ignem.

Sic, ubi depastis summittere gramina campis

Et renovare parans hibernas Apulus herbas

Igne fovet terras, simul et Garganus et arva

Volturis et calidi lucent buceta Matini. 186

Non tamen ad Magni pervenit gratius umbras

Omne quod in superos audet convicia volgus

Pompeiumque dels obicit, quam pauca Catonis

Verba sed a pleno venientia pectore veri.

" Civis obit," inquit ^' multum maioribus inpar 190

Nosse modum iuris, sed in hoc tamen utilis aevo,

Cui non uUa fuit iusti reverentia ; sal\ a

Libertate potens et solus plebe parata

Privatus servire sibi rectorque senatus,

Sed regnantis, erat. Nil belli iure poposcit, 195

Quaeque dari voluit, voluit sibi posse negari

Inmodicas possedit opes, sed plura retentis

Intulit. Invasit ferrum, sed ponere norat.

Praetulit arma togae, sed pacem armatus amavit ;

luvit sumpta ducem, iuvit dimissa potestas. 200

Casta domus luxuque carens corruptaque numquam

Fortuna domini. Clarum et venerabile nomen

Gentibus, et multum nostrae quod proderat urbi.

Olim vera fides Sulla Marioque receptis

Libertatis obit : Pompeio rebus adempto 206

518

BOOK IX

and gave their due of fire to the men who died at
Pharsalia. So, when the ApuUan burns the soil, in
order to make grass grow on the close-cropped
plains and get fresh herbage for winter, then Mount
Garganus and the fields of Vultur and the pastures
of warm Matinussend forth light together. Though
all alike dared to revile Heaven, and blamed the
gods for Pompey's death, yet a tribute as welcome
to the shade of Magnus came in the words of Cato :
few th^y were, but they came from a heart fraught
with truth. He said : " The citizen who has fallen,
though far inferior to our ancestors in recognising
the limits of what is lawful, was yet valuable in our
generation, which has shown no respect for justice.
He was powerful without destroying freedom ; he
alone, when the people were willing to be his
slaves, remained in private station ; he ruled the
Senate, but it was a Senate of kings. He based no
claims upon the right of armed force ; what he
wished to receive, he wished that others should have
the power to refuse him. He acquired enormous
wealth ; but he paid into the treasury more than he
kept back. He snatched the sword ; but he knew
how to lay it down. He preferred war to peace ;
but he was a lover of peace even when he wielded
the weapons of war. It pleased him to accept office,
and it pleased him also to resign it. His household
was pure and free from extravagance, and never
spoilt by the greatness of its master. His name is
illustrious and revered among all nations, and did
much service to our own State. Sincere belief in
Rome's freedom died long ago, when Sulla and
Marius were admitted within the walls ; but now,
when Pompey has been removed from the world,

519

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Nunc et ficta perit. Non iam regnare pudebit.

Nee color imperii nee frons erit ulla senatus.

O felix, cui summa dies fuit obvia victo

Et cui quaerendos Pharium scelus obtulit enses .

Forsitan in soceri potuisses vivere regno. 210

Scire mori sors prima viris, sed proxima cogi.

Et mihi, si fatis aliena in iura venimus,

Fac talem, Fortuna, lubam ; non deprecor hosti

Servari, dum me servet cervice recisa."

Vocibus his maior, quam si Romana sonarent 216

Rostra ducis laudes, generosam venit ad umbram
Mortis honos. Fremit interea discordia volgi,
Castrorum bellique piget post funera Magni ;
Cum Tarcondimotus linquendi signa Catonis
Sustulit. Hunc rapta fugientem classe secutus 220

Litus in extremum tali Cato voce notavit :
" O numquam pacate Cilix, iterumne rapinas
Vadis in aequoreas ? Magnum fortuna removit :
lam pelago pirata redis." Tum respicit omnes
In coetu motuque viros, quorum unus aperta 225

Mente fugae tali conpellat voce regentem :
" Nos, Cato, — da veniam — Pompei duxit in arma,
Non belli civilis amor, partesque favore
Fecimus. Ille iacet, quem paci praetulit orbis.

* color imperii means **a pretence of possessing military
authority legally conferred " (Housman).

* Macaulay says of this speech (190-203): "a pure gem of
rhetoric without one flaw and, in my opinion, not very tar
from historical truth " {Life I, p. 458).

3 The King of Cjlicia,
520

BOOK IX

even the sham belief is dead. No tyrant need
blush in future : there will be no pretence of military
command/ and the Senate will never again be used
as a screen. Fortunate was he, because his last day
followed close on defeat, and because the Egyptian
butchers forced upon him the death he should have
courted. He might perhaps have stooped to go on
living under the tyranny of his kinsman. Happiest
of all men are those who know when to die ; and
next come those upon whom death is forced. For
myself, if destiny bring us into the power of others,
I pray that Fortune will make Juba play the part of
Ptolemy : I am willing enough that he should keep
me for Caesar, on condition that he keeps me with
my head cut off." *

By these words greater honour in death was
rendered to the noble shade than if the Rostrum
at Rome had sounded his praise. Meanwhile the
soldiery were loud in mutiny ; they were weary
of the camp and warfare now that Pompey was
dead ; and then Tarcondimotus ^ raised the signal for
deserting Cato. He snatched his ships for flight,
but Cato followed him to tlie edge of the shore, and
thus rebuked him : " Do you go forth again to
practise robbery on the seas, you Cilician who have
never accepted peace ? Fortune has taken Magnus
away, and at once you return to the sea as a pirate."
Then he looked at them all, as they crowded to-
gether in haste ; and one of them, whose intention
to fly was clear, thus addressed the general : ** Pardon
us, Cato. It was love of Pompey, not of civil war,
that roused us to arms, and we took sides out of
favour for him. But he lies low, whom the world
preferred to peace, and our cause has ceased to

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Caiisaque nostra perit ; patrios permitte penates 230

Desertamque domum dulcesque revisere natos.

Nam quis erit finis, si nee Pharsalia pugnae,

Nee Pompeius erit? Perierunt tempora vitae:

Mors eat in tutum, iustas sibi nostra senectus

Prospiciat flammas ; bellum civile sepulehra 235

Vix ducibus praestare potest. Non barbara victos

Regna nianent, non Armenium mihi saeva minatur

Aut Scythicum fortuna iugum : sub iura togati

Civis eo. Quisquis Magno vivente secundus.

Hie mihi primus erit. Sacris praestabitur umbris 240

Summus honor ; dominum, quem clades cogit, habebo,

Nullum, Magne, ducem : te solum in bella secutus

Post te fata sequar ; nee enim sperare secunda

Fas mihi nee liceat. Fortuna cuncta tenentur

Caesaris ; Emathium sparsit victoria ferrum ; 245

Clausa fides miseris, et toto solus in orbe est.

Qui velit ac possit victis praestare salutem.

Pompeio scelus est bellum civile perempto,

Quo fuerat vivente fides. Si piiblica iura,

Si semper sequeris patriam, Cato^ signa petamus, 250

Romanus quae consul habet." Sic ille profatus

Insiluit puppi iuvenum comitante tumultu.

Actum Romanis fuerat de rebus, et omnis
Indlga servitii fervebat litore plebes :
Erupere ducis sacro de pectore voces : 265

" Ergo pari voto gessisti bella, iuventus,

^ The allusion is to Pompey.

• This cannot refer to Caesar himself, who was not now
wearing the toga.

^ Caesar was one of the two consuls then in oflSce.

522

BOOK IX

exist; suffer us to return to our native homes, our
deserted households and the children of our love.
For what end will there ever be of fighting, if
neither Pharsalia nor the death of Pompey ends it?
Our lifetime has been wasted ; let our last days find
a refuge ; let our old age look forward to due funeral
rites ; civil war can hardly provide graves even for
leaders.^ We are defeated, but no foreign rule
awaits us ; cruel Fortune does not threaten me with
oppression from Armenian or Scythian ; I pass into
the power of Roman citizens.^ Whoever was
second to Magnus while Magnus lived, shall now
rank first with me. But high honour shall I pay to
the sacred dead : though I shall acknowledge the
master whom defeat forces upon me, 1 shall acknow-
ledge no leader but Magnus. Him alone I followed
to war ; now he is dead, I shall follow destiny ; for I
may not hope for good fortune, nor would it be
permitted. All things are hemmed in by Caesar's
greatness ; his victory has scattered the army of
Pharsalia ; the hopes of the unfortunate have shrunk
to little compass, and he alone in the world has the
will and the power to grant their lives to the
vanquished. Civil war, which was loyalty while
Pompey lived, is criminal now that he is slain. If
you, Cato, are always a faithful follower of national
law and your country's cause, then let us seek the
standards which the Roman consul ^ bears." With
these words he sprang on board, and his soldiers in
disorder went with him.

The cause of Rome was as good as lost, and all the
rabble, at a loss for want of a master, swarmed upon
the shore. But utterance came with a rush from
the sacred breast of Cato : " It seems then, soldiers,

523

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Tu quoque pro dominis^ et Pompeiana fuisti,

Non Romana manus ? quod non in regna laboras,

Quod tibi, non ducibus, vivis morerisque, quod orbem

Adquiris nulli, quod iam tibi vincere tutura est, 260

Bella fugis quaerisque iugum cervice vacanti

Et nescis sine rege pati. Nunc causa pericli

Digna viris. Potuit vestro Pompeius abuti

Sanguine : nunc patriae iugulos ensesque negatis.

Cum prope libertas ? Unum fortuna reliquit 265

lam tribus e dominis. Pudeat : plus regia Nili

Contulit in leges et Parthi militis arcus.

Ite, o degeneres, Ptolemaei munus et arma

Spernite. Quis vestr.is ulla putet esse nocentes

Caede manus ? credet faciles sibi terga dedisse, 270

Credet ab Emathiis primos fugisse Philippis.

Vadite securi ; meruistis iudice vitam

Caesare non armis^ non obsidione subacti.

O famuli turpes, domini post fata prioris

Itis ad heredem. Cur non maiora mereri 275

Quam vitam veniamque libet ? rapiatur in undas

Infelix coniunx Magni prolesque Metelli,

Ducite Pompeios, Ptolemaei vincite munus.

Nostra quoque inviso quisquis feret ora tyranno,

Non parva mercede dabit : sciet ista iuventus 280

^ The triumvirs : see n. to i. 4.

* Ptolemy relieved you of Pompey, and the Parthians of
Crassus ; your own swords can rid you of Caesar.
' I.e. Pharsalia.

524

BOOK IX

that j'^oii too foui^ht with the same desire as others,
in defence of tyranny — that you were the troops of
Pompey, and not of Rome. You no longer suffer in
order to set up a tyrant ; your life and death belong
)l to yourselves, not to your leaders ; there is no one
for whom you gain the whole world, and now you
may safely conquer for yourselves alone. Yet now
you desert the ranks ; you miss the yoke when your
neck is relieved, and you cannot endure existence
without a tyrant. But you have now a quarrel
worthy of brave men. Pompey was suffered to
make full use of your life-blood : now, wlien freedom
is in sight, do you refuse to fight and die for your
country ? Out of three masters ^ Fortune has
spared but one. Shame on you ! The court of
Egypt and the bow of the Parthian soldier have done
more for the cause of lawful government. Depart,
degenerate men, neglectful alike of Ptolemy's gift
and your own weapons. ^ Who would suppose that
your hands were ever stained with bloodshed ^
Caesar will take your word for it that you were
quick to turn your backs to him, and first in the
flight from Philippi ^ in Thessaly. Go and fear not :
if Caesar be your judge, you, who were not subdued
by battle or siege, have deserved to have your lives
spared. Base slaves I your former master is dead,
and you welcome his heir. Why do you not seek
to earn a greater reward than mere life and pardon ?
Seize the hapless wife of Magnus and daughter of
Metellus, and carry her over the sea ; lead captive
the sons of Pompey ; and so outdo the gift of
Ptolemy, Also, whoever bears my head to the hated
tyrant will receive no small reward for his gift. By
the price of my head your troops will learn that they

525

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Cervicis pretio bene se mea signa sccutam.

Quin agite et magna meritum cum caede parate ;

Ignavum scelus est tantiim fuga." Dixit et omiies

Haud aliter medio revocavit ab aequore puppes,

Quam, simul eff'etas linquimt examina ceras 285

Atque oblita favi non miscent nexibus alas,

Sed sibi quaeque volat nee lam degustat amarum

Desidiosa thymum, Phrygii sonus increpat aeris,

Attonitae posuere fugam studiumque laboris

Floriferi repetunt et sparsi niellis amorem; 290

Gaudet in Hyblaeo securus gramine pastor

Divitias servasse casae. Sic voce Catonis

Inculcata viris iusti patientia Martis.

lamque actu belli non doctas ferre quietem
Constituit mentes serieque agitare laborum. 295

Primum litoreis miles lassatur harenis.
Proximus in muros et moenia Cyrenarum
Est labor; exclusus nulla se vindicat ira,
Poenaque de victis sola est vicisse Catoni.
Inde peti placuit Libyci contermina Mauris 300

Regna lubae, sed iter mediis natura vetabat
Syrtibus : banc audax sperat sibi cedere virtus.

Syrtes vel primam mundo natura figuram
Cum daret, in dubio pelagi terraeque reliquit
(Nam neque subsedit penitus, quo stagna profundi 305
Acciperet, nee se defendit ab aequore tellus,
Ambigua sed lege loci iacet invia sedes,

1 Cymbals were used in the worship of the Phrygian goddess,
Cybele, or the Great Mother.

* The Syrtes, of which Lucan makes so much, seem to have
lost their ancient terrors. They are two rocky gulfs, now called
Sidra and Gab^s, on the north coast of Africa, between Gyrene
and Carthage.

526

BOOK IX

did well to follow my standard. Rouse up therefore,
commit a mighty crime, and gain your reward.
Mere flight is the crime of cowards." By this speech
he recalled all the ships from mid-sea. Even so,
when the swarm deserts the cells that have hatched
their young, they forget the comb ; their wings are
no longer intertwined, but each bee flies indepen-
dently and plays truant, ceasing to suck the bitter
thyme ; but, if the sound of Phrygian brass ^ rebukes
them, at once in alarm they stop their flight and go
back to their task of bearing pollen, and renew
their love of scattered honey ; the shepherd on the
meadow of Hybla is relieved, and rejoices that the
wealth of his cottage is safe. Thus by Cato's words
the resolution to endure lawful warfare was impressed
upon his men.

And now by works of war and continuous tasks he
resolved to keep busy men who knew not how to
remain inactive. First the soldiers toiled till they
were weary, digging the sand upon the shore ; their
next task was against the walls and fortifications of
Cyrene ; when shut out from there, Cato took no
harsh revenge — the only penalty he exacted from
the conquered was to have conquered them. Next
it was resolved to seek the realm of Libyan Juba
that borders on the Moors ; and, though Nature
barred their way by placing the Syrtes ^ between,
daring valour hoped to defeat Nature.

When Nature first gave shape to the world, either
she left the Syrtes to be disputed by sea and land
alike ; for the land did not sink down deep, so as to
admit the water of the ocean, nor yet defend itself
against the sea, but the region lies untravelled,
owing to the uncertain conditions that prevail

527

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Aeqnora fracta vadis abruptaque terra profundo,
Et post inulta sonant proiecti litora fluctus:
Sic male deseruit nullosque exegit in usus
Hanc partem natura sui) ; vel plenior alto
Glim Syrtis erat pelago penitusque natabat,
Sed rapidus Titan ponto sua luniina pascens
Aequora subduxit zonae vicina perustae ;
Et nunc pontus adhuc Phoebo siccante repugnat,
Mox, ubi damnosum radios admoverit aevum,
Tellus Syrtis erit ; nam iam brevis unda superne
Innatatj et late periturum deficit aequor.

Ut primum remis actum mare propulit omne
Classis onus, densis fremuit niger imbribus Auster.
In sua regna furens temptatum classibus aequor
Turbine defendit longeque a Syrtibus undas
Egit et inlato con f regit litore pontum.
Tum, quarum recto deprendit carbasa malo,
Eripuit nautis, frustraque rudentibus ausis
Vela negare Noto spatium vicere carinae,
Atque ultra proram tumuit sinus. Omnia si quis
Providus antemnae suffixit lintea summae,
Vincitur et nudis averritur armamentis.
Sors melior classi, quae fluctibus incidit altis
Et certo iactata mari. Quaecumque levatae
Arboribus caesis flatum effudere prementem,
Abstulit has liber ventis contraria volvens

1 The South.

* Whereas the Syrtis was neither land nor sea.
528

BOOK IX

there — sea broken by shoals, and dry land severed
by sea — and the waves strike beach after beach
before they collapse with a roar. So unkindly
has Nature deserted this part of herself, and
demands no service of it. Or else, the Syrtis was
once more richly supplied with deep sea, and lay
far below the surface ; but the parching sun,
feeding his light with ocean, sucked up the water,
which is near the torrid zone ; and thus, though now
the sea still resists the drying action of the sun,
ere long, when injurious time brings his heat close,
the Syrtis will become dry land ; for already the
waves that cover it are shallow, and the water, soon
to disappear, is everywhere scantily supplied.

As soon as the sea, driven by the oars, bore on-
ward all the heavy fleet, a black South wind roared
with incessant rain. Raging against its own domain,^
it protected by a hurricane the waters on which the
ships had ventured, driving the waves far from the
Syrtes and breaking up the sea with intervals of
land. Next, if it caught the sails of any ship with
mast erect, it tore them from the sailors' grasp ; in
vain the cordage strove to rescue the sails from the
wind, and the canvas stretched out beyond the
ship, its folds flapping out further than the prow. If
any prudent mariner had brailed up all his sails to
the top of the yard, he was defeated and driven out
of his course with bare poles. Those ships fared
better which rode upon deep water and were tossed
upon a sea that was sea indeed.^ But if any were
lightened by cutting away the masts, and thus
allowed the driving blast to pass over them, then the
tide, free from control, swept them in the opposite
direction to the gale, and carried them away,

529

VOL. I. S

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Aestus et obnixum victor detrusit in Austrum.

Has vada destituunt, atque interrupta profundo 336

Terra ferit puppes, dubioque obnoxia fato

Pars sedet una ratis, pars altera pendet in undis.

Turn magis inpactis brevius mare terraque saepe

Obvia consurgens ; quamvis elisus ab Austro,

Saepe tamen cumulos fluctus non vincit harenae. 340

Eminet in tergo pelagi procul omnibus arvis

Inviolatus aqua sicci iam pulveris agger ;

Stant miseri nautae, terraeque haerente carina

Litora nulla vident. Sic partem intercipit aequor ;

Pars ratium maior regimen clavumque secuta est 345

Tuta fuga, nautasque loci sortita peritos

Torpentem Tritonos adit inlaesa paludem.

Hanc, ut fama, deus, quern toto litore pontus
Audit ventosa perflantem marmora^ concha,
Hanc et Pallas amat, patrio quae vertice nata 360

Terrarum primam Libyen — nam proxima caelo est,
Ut probat ipse calor — tetigit, stagnique quieta
Voltus vidit aqua posuitque in margine plantas
Et se dilecta Tritonida dixit ab unda.
Quam iuxta Lethon tacitus praelabitur amnis^ 366

Infernis, ut fama, trahens oblivia venis,
Atque, insopiti quondam tutela draconis,
Hesperidum pauper spoliatis frondibus hortus.
Invidus, annoso qui famam derogat aevo.
Qui vates ad vera vocat. Fuit aurea silva 360

Divitiisque graves et fulvo germine rami

^ marmora luniiis : murmura MS8.

^ Triton. Tiie lake is near the lesser (and more westerly)
Syrtis.

BOOK IX

conquering them and driving them against the
opposing South wind. These were left stranded by
the shallows, where land, broken by sea, wrecks
them ; exposed to a double danger, half the vessel
is aground, while half floats on the waves. Then, as
the ships were driven further, the sea contracted and
the dry land constantly emerged and struck them :
the waves, though tossed by the South wind, often
fail to rise above the sandbanks. Far from all the
fields, a rampart of dry sand rises up on the surface
of the sea and defies the water ; the hapless sailors
stick fast : though their keel is aground, no shore is
visible. Thus the sea destroyed some of the ships,
but the larger part, following the guidance of the
helm, were saved by flight; and finding pilots
familiar with the shore, they reached unharmed the
sluggish lake of Triton.

This lake, as legend tells, is dear to the god/ who
is heard by all the sea-shore as he fills the waters with
the music of his windy shell ; and dear to Pallas too.
When she was born from her father's head, she
alighted on Libya before any other land ; for Libya,
as its heat alone proves, is nearest the sky ; and
there she saw her face in the still water of the pool,
and stood by its brink, and called herself Tritonis
after the lake she loved. Near it silently steals past
the river of Lethon, which, as legend tells, carries
forgetfulness from its source in the lower world;
and here is the Garden of the Hesperides, once the
charge of the sleepless dragon but now impoverished
by the rifling of its branches. Churlish is he who
robs hoary antiquity of its fame and demands the
truth from poets. There was once a golden grove,
whose trees bowed beneath their riches and the

531

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Virgineusque chorus, nitidi custodia luci,

Et numquam somno damnatus lumina serpens

Robora conplexus rutilo curvata metallo.

Abstulit arboribus pretium nemorique laborem 365

Alcides, passusque inopes sine pondere ramos

Rettulit Argolico fulgentia poma tyranno.

His igitur depulsa locis eiectaque classis
Syrtibus baud ultra Garamantidas attigit undas,
Sed duce Pompeio Libyae melioris in oris 370

Mansit. At inpatiens virtus Iiaerere Catonis
Audet in ignotas agmen committere gentes
Armorum fidens et terra cingere Syrtim.
Hoc eadem suadebat hiems, quae clauserat aequor ;
Et spes imber erat nimios metuentibus ignes, 37o

Ut neque sole viam nee duro frigore saevam
Inde polo Libyes, hinc bruma temperet annus.
Atque ingressurus steriles sic fatur harenas :

" O quibus una salus placuit mea signa secutis
Indomita cervice mori, conponite mentes 38()

Ad magnum virtutis opus summosque labores.
Vadimus in campos steriles exustaque mundi,
Qua nimius Titan et rarae in fontibus undae,
Siecaque letiferis squalent serpentibus arva.
Durum iter ad leges patriaeque ruentis amorem. 386
Per mediani Libyen veniant atque in via temptent,

* Eurystheus.

^ ' ' Garamantian " seems to be used loosely for * ' Libyan. " Tlie
fJaramantes lived in an oasis of the Sahara, far distant from
the sea.

3 ** Down to 394 very good " (Heitlaud, Introd., p. Ixx;.

BOOK IX

tawny fruit of their branches ; and a band of maidens
guarded that glittering grove ; and a serpent, whose
eyes were never doomed to close in sleep, coiled
round the trees that bent beneath the ruddy metal.
But Alcides robbed the trees of their prize and
eased the grove of its task, when he left the
branches without their weight of wealth and carried
back the shining apples to the king of Argos.^

Thus the ships, driven from their course and cast
forth from the Syrtes, remained in this region, on the
shore of the better part of Libya, with Pompeius as
commander ; nor did they sail further on the Garaman-
tian 2 waters. But brave Cato was unwilling to stand
still : emboldened by his armed strength, he dared to
trust his soldiers to lands unknown and to march round
the Syrtis on foot. Winter also, by closing the sea
against them, prompted this course, and rains were
welcome to men who feared excessive heat : the
season might save them from suffering from either
sun or freezing cold, and temper their march by the
climate of Africa on the one hand and by winter on
the other. And before he set foot upon the barren
desert, Cato made them this speech : ^

" Men who have chosen this one path of safety —
to follow my standard to the death with spirits
unsubdued, prepare your minds for a high feat of
valour and for utmost hardships. We march towards
barren plains and the furnace of the world, where
the sun's heat is excessive and water is seldom
found in the springs, and where the parched fields
are foul with venomous serpents. Hard is the path
to freedom, and hard to win the love of our country
in her fall. Let those march through the heart of
Africa, seeking a path where there is none, who do

533

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Si quibus in nullo positum est evadere voto.

Si quibus ire sat est. Neque enim mihi fallere quemquam

Est animus tectoque metu perducere volgus.

Hi mihi sint comites, quos ipsa pericula ducent, 390

Qui me teste pati vel quae tristissima pulchrum

Romanumque putant. At qui sponsore salutis

Miles eget capiturque animae dulcedine, vadat

Ad dominum meliore via. Dum primus harenas

Ingrediar primusque gradus in pulvere ponam, 395

Me calor aetherius feriat, mihi plena veneno

Occurrat serpens, fatoque pericula vestra

Praetemptate meo. Sitiat, quicumque bibentem

Viderit, aut umbras nemorum quicumque petentem,

Aestuet, aut equitem peditum praecedere turmas, 400

Deficiat : si quo fuerit discrimine notum.

Dux an miles earn. Serpens, sitis, ardor harenae

Dulcia virtuti ; gaudet patientia duris ;

Laetius est, quotiens magno sibi constat, honestum.

Sola potest Libye turba praestare malorum, 405

Ut deceat fugisse viros." Sic ille paventes

Incendit virtu te animos et amore laborura,

Inreducemque viam deserto limite carpit;

Et sacrum parvo nomen clausura sepulchre

Invasit Libye securi fata Catonis. 410

Tertia pars rerum Libye, si credere famae
Cuncta velis ; at, si ventos caelumque sequaris.
Pars erit Europae. Nee enim plus litora Nili
Quam Scythicus Tanais primis a Gadibus absunt^

* At Pharsalia.
534

BOOK IX

not regard esca[)e as a thing to be at all desired,
and are content merely to march on. For I do not
intend to deceive any man, nor to draw the army on
by concealing the danger. I seek as my companions
men who are attracted by the risks themselves, men
who think it glorious and worthy of a Roman to
endure even the worst, with me to watch them.
But if any man craves a guarantee of safety and
is tempted by the sweetness of life, let him take
an easier path and go to a master. Foremost I shall
tread the desert, and foremost set foot upon the
sand ; let the heat of the sky then beat upon me
and the poisonous serpent stand in my path; and
test your perils beforehand by what befalls me. If
any man see me drinking, or seeking the shade of
trees, or riding in front of the marching troops, then
let him feel thirst and heat and weariness — if there
is any distinction to mark whetlier I am the general
or a soldier in the ranks. Serpents, thirst, burning-
sand — all are welcomed by the brave ; endurance
finds pleasure in hardship ; virtue rejoices when it
pays dear for its existence. Africa alone, with all
her plagues, can bring it about, that to have fled^
is no disgrace to the brave." Thus he fired their
frightened hearts with courage and love of hardship,
and began, by a track through the desert, that march
from which there was no returning. For Africa, that
was to hide his sacred name in a humble grave, laid
hold upon the last days of Cato, but Cato cared not.
Libya is the third continent of the world, if one
is willing in all things to trust report ; but, if you
judge by the winds and the sky, you will find it to
be part of Europe. For the banks of the Nile are
not further than the northern Tanais from Gades in

535

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Unde Europa fugit Libyen et litora Hexu 416

Oceano fecere locum ; sed maior in unam

Orbis abit Asiam. Nam cum communiter istae

Effundant Zephyrum, Boreae latus ilia sinistrum

Contingens dextrumque Noti discedit in ortus

Eurum sola tenens. Libycae quod fertile terrae est 420

Vergit in occasus ; sed et haec non fontibus uUis

Solvitur : Arctoos raris Aquilonibus imbres

Accipit et nostris reficit sua rura serenis.

In nullas vitiatur opes ; non aere neque auro

Excoquitur, nullo glaebarum crimine pura 426

Et penitus terra est. Tantum Maurusia genti

Robora divitiae, quarum non noverat usum,

Sed citri contenta comis vivebat et umbra.

In nemus ignotum nostrae venere secures,

Extremoque epulas mensasque petimus ab orbe. 430

At, quaecumque vagam Syrtim conplectitur ora

Sub nimio proiecta die, vicina perusti

Aetheris, exurit messes et pulvere Bacchum

Enecat et nulla putris radice tenetur.

Temperies vitalis abest, et nulla sub ilia 435

Cura lovis terra est ; natura deside torpet

Orbis et inmotis annum non sentit liarenis.

Hoc tam segne solum raras tamen exerit herbas,

Quas Nasamon, gens dura, legit, qui proxima ponto

Nudus rura tenet ; quem mundi barbara damnis 440

* The Mediterranean.

BOOK IX

the far West, at which point Europe diverges from
Libya and the curvature of the sliores has made
room for the sea.^ But a larger part of the world
has gone to form Asia alone. For, whereas Europe
and Africa in partnership send forth the West wind,
Asia, while touching the left side of the North and
the right side of the South, stretches away to the
East and has a monopoly of the East wind. The
fertile part of Africa lies towards the West, but
even this has no streams to break it up ; occasionally,
when the North winds blow, it gets the northern
rains and refreshes its fields by our fair weather.
The soil is not violated to secure wealth of any
kind ; it is not smelted for the sake of copper or
gold ; its clods are innocent, and its earth is merely
earth, even far below the surface. The land is rich in
nothing but the timber of Mauretania ; and, ignorant
how to make use of this wealth, tiie people lived
content with the leafy shade of the citrus- tree. But
our axes have invaded the unknown forest, and we
have sought tables as well as dainties from the end
of the earth. But all that coast which surrounds
the shifting Syrtis, as it lies flat under the scorching
sun and near the parched sky, burns up corn-crops
and smothers the vine with dust ; and the powdery
soil is bound togetlier by no roots of plants. The
temperate air that life needs is not found there, and
Jupiter pays no heed to the land ; Nature is in-
active ; the lifeless expanse, with sands that are
never ploughed, is unconscious of the seasons. Yet
this barren soil here and there sends forth grass
which is gathered by the Nasamonians, a rude and
naked race who dwell close by the sea ; and the
savage Syrtis feeds them by the plunder of the

537

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Syrtis alit. Nam litoreis populator harenis
Inminet et nulla portus tangente carina
Novit opes ; sic cum toto commercia mundo
Naufragiis Nasamones habent. Hac ire Catonem
Dura iubet virtus. Illic secura iuventus 446

Ventorum nullasque timens tellure procellas
Aequoreos est passa metus. Nam litore sicco,
Quam pelago, Syrtis violentius excipit Austrum,
Et terrae magis ille nocens. Non montibus ortum
Adversis frangit Libye scopulisque repulsum 450

Dissipat et liquidas e ^ turbine solvit in auras.
Nee ruit in silvas annosaque robora torquens
Lassatur : patet omne solum, liberque meatu
Aeoliam rabiem totis exercet harenis,
Et non imbriferam contorto pulvere nubem 465

In flexum violentus agit : pars plurima terrae
ToUitur et numquam resoluto vortice pendet.
Regna videt pauper Nasamon errantia vento
Discussasque domos, volitantque a culmine raptae
Detect© Garamante casae. Non altius ignis 460

Rapta vehit ; quantumque licet consurgere fumo
Et violare diem, tantus tenet aera pulvis.
Tum quoque Romanum solito violentior agmen
Adgreditur, nullisque potest consistere miles
Instabilis, raptis etiam quas calcat, harenis. 465

Concuteret terras orbemque a sede moveret.
Si solida Libye conpage et pondere duro
Clauderet exesis Austrum scopulosa cavernis ;

* liquidas e Grotius : liquidas se M83.
* The prison of the winds.

538

BOOK IX

world. For the wrecker lies in wait on the sandy
shore, and he is familiar with wealth, though no
ship reaches harbour there ; thus, by means of
shipwrecks, the Nasamonians trade with all nations.
Through this land Cato is bidden march by his
stern valour. There the soldiers, reckoning on no
gales and dreading no storms on land, endured the
fears that belong to the sea. For the South wind
falls more fiercely upon the dry shore of the Syrtis
than upon the deep, and does more damage to the
land. Libya has no mountains to oppose the rising
wind and break its force, no cliffs to drive it back
and scatter it, or to turn its hurricane to clear
breezes ; it does not fall upon forests and wear itself
out by bending ancient oaks : all the land is level,
and the wind travels freely and wreaks the fury of
Aeolia^ all over the desert. There is no rain in the
cloud of whirling dust which it drives furiously in
circles ; most of the land is lifted up by it and is
suspended in the air, as the eddying motion is con-
tinuous. The needy Nasamonian sees his possessions
flying in the wind and his dwelling blown to pieces ;
the Garamantian is laid bare, and his hut, beginning
with the roof, is snatched away and flies aloft. Fire
does not carry what it seizes to a greater height : as
high as smoke may rise up and mar the face of day,
so great is the dust that fills the air. And now,
even fiercer than its wont, the wind attacked the
Roman column ; and the staggering men can find
no footing on the sand, when even the spot they
tread on is carried away. If Africa had a solid
framework, so that the heavy weight of its cliffs
might confine the South wind within hollow caverns,
the wind would overset the whole world and wrench

539

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Sed quia mobilibus facilis turbatur harenis,

Nusquam luctando stabilis manet, imaqiie tell us 470

Stat, quia summa fugit. Galeas et scuta virorum

Pilaque contorsit violento spiritus actu

Intentusque tulit magni per inania caeli.

lllud in extrema forsan longeque remota

Prodigium tellure fuit, delapsaque caelo 475

Anna timent gentes hominumque erepta lacertis

A superis demissa putant. Sic ilia profecto

Sacrifwjo cecidere Numae, quae lecta iuventus

Patricia cervice movet : spoliaverat Auster

Aut Boreas populos ancilia nostra ferentes. 480

Sic orbem torquente Noto Romana iuventus

Procubuit timuitque rapi ; constrinxit amictus

Inseruitque manus terrae nee pondere solo

Sed nisu iacuit, vix sic inmobilis Austro,

Qui super ingentes cumulos involvit harenae 485

Atque operit tellure viros. Vix tollere miles

Membra valet multo congestu pulveris haerens.

AUigat et stantes adfusae magnus harenae

Agger, et inmoti terra surgente tenentur.

Saxa tulit penitus discussis proruta muris 490

Effuditque procul miranda sorte malorum :

Qui nuUas videre domos videre ruinas.

lamque iter omne latet, nee sunt discrimina terrae :

Sideribus novere viam ; nee sidera tota 495

Ostendit Libycae finitor circulus orae

* The Sacred Shields {ancilia) preserved in Rome.
540

BOOK IX

it from its foundations ; but because the soil is easily
driven about with its drifting sands, it remains stable
by offering resistance at no point, and the lower
stratum stands fast because the u})per is dispersed.
Driving furiously, the blast snatched up the men's
helmets and shields and javelins, and rushed on,
carrying them through the mighty void of heaven.
Perhaps they were a portent in some remote and
distant country, and men there fear the armour that
fell down from heaven, supposing that what was
torn from the arms of men has been sent down by
the gods. In this way the shields,^ which chosen
patricians carry on their shoulders, surely fell before
Numa as he performed sacrifice: the South wind or
the North had robbed the bearers of those shields
which now are ours. When the wind tormented the
region thus, the Roman soldiers prostrated them-
selves, fearing to be carried away ; buckling their
garments tight, they clutched the ground ; effort as
well as mere weight kept them where they lay ;
and even so they could scarce resist the storm, which
rolled huge heaps of sand over them and covered
their bodies with the soil. Held fast by great
piles of dust, the men were hardly able to rise from
the ground. Where they stood, a great rampart of
sand by their sides kept them prisoners ; and they
were prevented from moving by the rising surface.
The wind broke walls to pieces, dislodged the stones
and carried them far away, and dropped them at a
distance — a strange mishap, when those who saw no
houses saw the fragments of them falling. And now
their path was utterly hidden and all landmarks
were lost ; they found their way by the stars ; and
the horizon which bounds the African continent does

541

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Multaque devexo terrarum margine celat.
Utque calor solvit, quem torserat aera ventus,
Incensusque dies, manant sudoribus artus,
Arent ora siti. Conspecta est parva maligna 500

Unda procul vena, quara vix e pulvere miles
Corripiens patulum galeae confudit in orbem
Porrexitque duci. Squalebant pulvere fauces
Cunctorum, minimumque tenens dux ipse liquoris
Invidiosus erat. "Mene" inquit "degener unum 505
Miles in hac turba vacuum virtute putasti ?
Usque adeo mollis primisque caloribus inpar
Sum visus ? quanto poena tu dignior ista es,
Qui populo sitiente bibas ! " Sic concitus ira
Excussit galeam, suffecitque omnibus unda. 510

Ventura erat ad templum, Libycis quod gentibus unum
Inculti Garamantes habent. Stat sortiger illic
luppiter, ut memorant, sed non aut fulmina vibrans
Aut similis nostro, sed tortis cornibus Hammon.
Non illic Libycae posuerunt ditia gentes 616

Templa, nee Eois splendent donaria gemmis.
Quamvis Aethiopum populis Arabumque beatis
Gentibus atque Indis unus sit luppiter Hammon,
Pauper adhuc deus est nullis violata per aevum
Divitiis delubra tenens, morumque priorum 520

Numen Romano templum defendit ab auro.
Esse locis superos testatur silva per omnem

^ I.e. they were content to do without it.
542

BOOK IX

not display the constellations entire, but many are
concealed by the curvature of the earth's rim. Then,
when heat expanded the air which had been con-
tracted by the gale, and the day grew burning hot,
sweat poured from their limbs and their mouths
were parched with thirst. A rivulet with scanty
flow was sighted at a distance ; and a soldier, snatch-
ing the water with difficulty from the dust, poured
it into the hollow of his helmet and offered it to
the general. Every throat was furred with sand,
and the general himself, holding in his hands a
mere drop of water, was an object of envy. "De-
generate soldier," said he; "did you consider me
the one man without fortitude in this army? Did
I seem so effeminate, so unable to endure the first
onset of heat? How much more you yourself de-
serve this punishment — that you should drink while
all around thirst ! " So in wrath he emptied out
the helmet, and there was water enough for all.^

They came to the temple in the land of the savage
Garamantians — the only temple which the nations
of Africa possess. Men say that Jupiter has an
oracular seat there ; but Amnion does not wield the
thunderbolt, nor is he like our Jupiter, but has
curving horns. The African nations have built no
rich temple there ; nor are there treasure-chambers
glittering with Eastern gems. Though the Ethiopians
and Indians and wealthy Arabians have no god but
Jupiter Ammon, yet the god is still poor, and his
dwelling-place has remained for ages unblemished
by wealth; and the deity, true to the good old
fashion, defends his shrine against Roman gold.
But the presence of gods is attested by trees — the
only green trees that exist in the whole of Libya.

543

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Sola virens Libyen. Nam quidquid pulvere sicco
Separat ardentem tepida Berenicida Lepti,
Ignorat frondes ; solus nemus abstulit Hammon. 62C
Silvarum fons causa loco, qui putria terrae
Alligat et domitas unda conectit harenas.
Hie quoque nil obstat Piioebo, cum cardine summo
Stat librata dies ; truncum vix protegit arbor :
Tam brevis in medium radiis conpellitur umbra. 53(
Deprensum est hunc esse locum, qua circulus alti
Solstitii medium signorum percutit orbem. 532

At tibi, quaecumque es Libyco gens igne dirempta, 53S
In Noton umbra cadit, quae nobis exit in Arcton.
Te segnis Cynosura subit, tu sicca profundo
Mergi Plaustra putas nullumque in vertice semper
Sidus habes inmune mari ; procul axis uterque est,
Et fuga signorum medio rapit omnia caelo. 643

Non obliqua meant, nee Tauro Scorpios exit 633

Rectior, aut Aries donat sua tempora Librae,
Aut Astraea iubet lentos descendere Pisces.
Par Geminis Chiron, et idem, quod Carcinus ardens,
Umidus Aegoceros, nee plus Leo tollitur Urna. 537

Stabant ante fores populi, quos miserat Eos, 644

Cornigerique lovis monitu nova fata petebant ;
Sed Latio cessere duci, comitesque Catonem
Orant, exploret Libycum memorata per orbem

^ For the whole of this passage, see Housraan, pp. 329 fif. j
the translation given liere is taken from him.

544

BOOK IX

For all the expanse of dry sand that divides burning
Berenicis from the lesser heat of Leptis knows
nothing of leaves; for Amnion has taken all the
trees for himself. These trees owe their origin to
a local spring, which binds the powdery soil together,
mastering and cementing the sand by its waters.
But even here the sun finds no hindrance, when the
orb of day stands poised in the zenith : the trees can
scarce shelter tlieir own trunks — so small is the com-
pass of the shadow thrown by his rays. It has been
ascertained that this is the spot where the circle of
the upper solstice strikes the Zodiac, equidistant
from the poles. But the shadow of people (if such
there be) who are separated from us by the heats of
Libya falls to the South, whereas ours falls north-
wards. The slow-moving Little Bear rises up into
their view ; and they suppose that the unwetted
Wain sinks in the sea, and they have no star over-
head which never touches ocean ; either pole is
equally distant from them ; and the flying Zodiac
sweeps on all its constellations through the centre
of the sky. These do not move obliquely : Scorpius,
when emerging from the horizon, is no nearer the
perpendicular than Taurus ; nor does Aries make
over any of his rising- time to Libra ; nor does Virgo
cause Pisces to set slowly. Sagittarius mounts as
high as Gemini, and rainy Capricorn as high as
burning Cancer; and Leo mounts no higher than
Aquarius.^

Before the doors of the temple stood messengers
from the East, seeking to learn the future by the
warning of horned Jupiter. But these gave place to
the Roman general ; and his officers begged Cato to
test the deity so famous through all the land of

545

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Numina, de fama tam longi iudicet aevi.

Maximus hortator scrutandi voce deorum

Eventus Labienus erat. " Sors obtulit " inquit 550

" Et fortuna viae tam magiii numinis ora

Consiliumque dei ; tanto duce possumus uti

Per Syrtes, bellisque datos cognoscere casus.

Nam cui crediderim superos arcana daturos

Dicturosque magis quam sancto vera Catoni ? 555

Certe vita tibi semper derecta supernas

Ad leges, sequerisque deum. Datur ecce loquendi

Cum^ love libertas : inquire in fata nefandi

Caesaris et patriae venturos excute mores :

lure suo populis uti legumque licebit, 560

An bellum civile perit? Tua pectora sacra

Voce reple ; durae saltem virtu tis amator

Quaere, quid est virtus, et posce exemplar honesti.*'

Hie deo plenus, tacita quem mente gerebat,
Effudit dignas adytis e pectore voces : 565

" Quid quaeri, Labiene, iubes ? an liber in armis
Occubuisse velim potius quam regna videre ?
An, sit vita brevis, nil, longane, differat, aetas ? ^
An noceat vis nulla bono fortunaque perdat
Opposita virtute minas, laudandaque velle 570

Sit satis et numquam successu crescat honestum ?
Scimus, et hoc nobis non altius inseret Hammon.
Haeremus cuncti superis, temploque tacente

^ Madvig's emendation of An sit vita nihil sed longa an differat
aetas. The construction is : an nil differat (utrum) vita sit brevis
longane aetas.

BOOK IX

Libya, and to pass sentence on a reputation of such
long standing. Labienus especially urged him to
use the voice divine in order to pry into the future.
"Chance," said he, ''and the hazard of our march
have put in our way the word of this mighty god
and his divine wisdom; his powerful guidance we
can enjoy through the Syrtes, and from him discover
the issues appointed for the war. I cannot believe
that Heaven would reveal mysteries and proclaim
truth to any man more than to the pure and holy
Cato. Assuredly you have ever ruled your life in
accordance with divine law, and you are a follower
after God. And now behold ! power is given you
to speak with Jupiter; ask then concerning the end
of Caesar the abhorred, and search into the future
condition of our country : will the people be allowed
to enjoy their laws and liberties, or has the civil war
been fought in vain ? Fill your breast with the god's
utterance ; a lover of austere virtue, you should at
least ask now what Virtue is and demand to see
Goodness in her visible shape."

Cato, inspired by the god whom he bore hidden
in his heart, poured forth from his breast an answer
worthy of the oracle itself : " What question do you
bid me ask, Labienus ? Whether I would rather fall
in battle, a free man, than witness a tyranny ?
W^hether it makes no difference if life be long or
short? Whether violence can ever hurt the good,
or Fortune threatens in vain when Virtue is her
antagonist ? Whether the noble purpose is enough,
and virtue becomes no more virtuous by success } I
can answer these questions, and the oracle will never
fix the truth deeper in my heart. We men are all
inseparable from the gods, and, even if the oracle

547

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Nil facimus non sponte dei ; nee voeibus ullis

Numen eget, dixitque semel nascentibus auctor, 576

Quidquid seire licet. Sterilesne elegit harenas,

CJt caneret paucis, mersitque hoc pulvere verum,

Estque dei sedes, nisi terra et pontus et aer

Et caelum et virtus? superos quid quaerimus ultra?

luppiter est, quodcumque vides,quodcumque moveris. 580

Sortilegis egeant dubii semperque futuris

Casibus ancipites : me non oracula certum,

Sed mors certa facit. Pavido fortique cadendum est :

Hoc satis est dixisse lovem." Sic ille profatus

Servataque fide templi discedit ab aris 685

Non exploratum populis Hammona relinquens.

Ipse manu sua pila gerit, praecedit anheli
Militis ora pedes, monstrat tolerare labores,
Non iubet, et nulla vehitur cervice supinus
Carpentoque sedens ; somni parcissimus ipse est ; 590
Ultimus haustor aquae, quam, tandem fonte reperto,
Indiga cogatur laticis spectare^ iuventus,
Stat, dum lixa bibat. Si veris magna paratur
Fama bonis et si successu nuda remoto
Inspicitur virtus, quidquid laudamus in ullo 695

Maiorum, fortuna fuit. Quis Marte secundo,
Quis tantum meruit populorura sanguine nonien ?
Hunc ego per Syrtes Libyaeque extrema triumphum
Ducere maluerim, quam ter Capitolia curru

* spectare ffousman : certare, poLare, MSS.

* Drinking one by one,
548

BOOK IX

be dumb, all our actions are predetermined by
Heaven. The gods have no need to speak ; for the
Creator told us once for all at our birth whatever we
are permitted to know. Did he choose tliese barren
sands, that a few might hear his voice? did he bury
truth in this desert? Has he any dwelling-place
save earth and sea, the air of heaven and virtuous
hearts? Why seek we furtlier for deities? All
that we see is God ; every motion we make is God
also. Men who doubt and are ever uncertain of
future events — let them cry out for prophets : I draw
my assurance from no oracle but from the sureness
of death. The timid and the brave must fall alike ;
the god has said this, and it is enough." With these
words he departed from the altar, preserving the
credit of the temple, and left Ammon, untested by
him, lor the nations to worship.

Carrying his javelin in his own hand, he marched
on foot in front of his gasping soldiers ; issuing no
order, he taught them by his example to endure
hardsliip ; he was never borne at ease on the
shoulders of men or seated in a carriage ; of sleep
he was more sparing than any. When at last a
spring was discovered, and the thirsty men must
be forced to look on at it,^ he was the last to drink
and stood still till the camp-followers drank. — If
great renown is won by true merit, and if virtue
is considered in itself and apart from success, then
all that we praise in any of our ancestors was
Fortune's gift. Who ever gained so great a name
by winning battles and shedding the blood of
nations ? I would choose to lead this triumphant
march through the Syrtes and the remotest parts
of Libya rather than ascend the Capitol thrice over

549

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Scandere Pompci, quam frangere coUa lugurthae. 600

Ecce parens verus patriae, dignissimus aris,

Roma, tuis, per quern numquam iurare pudebit,

Et quem, si steteris umquam cervice soluta,

Nunc, olim, factura deum es. lam spissior ignis,

Et plaga, quam nullam superi mortalibus ultra 605

A medio fecere die, calcatur, et unda

Rarior. Inventus mediis fons unus harenis

Largus aquae, sed quern serpentum turba tenehat

Vix capiente loco. Stabant in margine siccae

Aspides, in mediis sitiebant dipsades undis. 610

Ductor, ut aspexit perituros fonte relicto,

Adloquitur : " Vana specie conterrite leti,

Ne dubita, miles, tutos haurire liquores.

Noxia serpentum est admixto sanguine pestis ;

Morsu virus habent, et fatum dente minantur, 615

Pocula morte carent." Dixit dubiumque venenum i

Hausit ; et in tota Libyae fons unus harena I

lUe fuit, de quo primus sibi posceret undam.

Cur Libycus tantis exundet pestibns aer
Fertilis in mortes, aut quid secreta nocenti 620

Miscuerit natura solo, non cura laborque
Noster scire valet, nisi quod volgata per orbem
Fabula pro vera decepit saecula causa.
Finibus extremis Libyes, ubi fervida tellus
Accipit Oceanum demisso sole calentem, 625

Squalebant late Phorcynidos arva Medusae,

^ Jugurtha was strangled in prison after Pompey's first
triumph.

BOOK IX

in Pompey's car, or break Jugurtha's neck.'^ Be-
hold tlie true father of his country, a man most
worthy to be worshipped by Romans ; to swear by
his name will never make men blush ; and if they
ever, now or later, free their necks from the yoke
and stand upright, they will make a god of Cato. —
Now the heat grew more intense ; they trod that
region that forms the southern limit ordained for
man's habitation, and water grew scarcer. Right in
the desert a single spring was discovered, and its
waters were copious, but a host of serpents beset
it, almost more than the ground could contain :
parched asps had their station on its brink, and
thirsty dipsades filled the pool itself. When Cato
saw that the men would die if they shunned the
spring, he thus spoke to them : " Soldiers, the
appearance of death that terrifies you is delusive ;
do not hesitate to swallow the harmless water. The
poison of snakes is only deadly when mixed with
the blood ; their venom is in their bite, and they
threaten death with their fangs. There is no
death in the cup." He spoke and drank down the
dreaded poison ; and in all the Libyan desert this
was the only spring where he asked to taste the
water first.

Why the clime of Libya abounds in such plagues
and teems with death, or what bane mysterious
Nature has mingled with her soil — this no study
and pains of ours avail to discover ; but a world-
wide legend has taken the place of the true cause
and deceived mankind. In the furthest parts of
Libya, where the hot earth admits the Ocean heated
by the sun when he sets, lay the broad untilled
realm of Medusa, daughter of Phorcys — a realm not

551

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Non neraorum protecta coma, non mollia sulco,

Sed dominae voltu conspectis aspera saxis.

Hoc primum riatura nocens in corpore saevas

Eduxit pestes ; illis e faucibus angues 630

Stridula fuderunt vibratis sibila Unguis.

Ipsa flagellabant gaudentis coUa Medusae, 633

Femineae cui more comae per terga solutae 632

Surgunt adversa subrectae fronte colubrae, 634

Vipereumque fluit depexo crine venenum.

Hoc habet infelix, cunctis inpune, Medusa,

Quod spectare licet. Nam rictus oraque raonstri

Quis timuit ? quem, qui recto se lumine vidit,

Passa Medusa mori est? rapuit dubitantia fata

Praevenitque metus ; anima periere retenta G40

Membra, nee emissae riguere sub ossibus umbrae.

Eumenidum crines solos movere furores,

Cerberos Orpheo lenivit sibila cantu,

Amphitryoniades vidit, cum vinceret, hydram :

Hoc monstrum timuit genitor numenque secundum 645

Phorcys aquis Cetoque parens ipsaeque sorores

Gorgones ; hoc potuit caelo pelagoque minari

Torporem insolitum mundoque obducere terram.

E caelo volucres subito cum pondere lapsae.

In scopulis haesere ferae, vicina colentes 650

Aethiopum totae riguerunt marmore gentes.

Nullum animal visus patiens, ipsique retrorsus

Effusi faciem vitabant Gorgonos angues.

Ilia sub Hesperiis stantem Titana columnis

^ And thus turned into stone.
* Second to Poseidon (Neptune).

552

BOOK IX

shaded by the foliage of trees nor softened by the
plough, but rugged with stones which the eyes
of their mistress had beheld.^ In her body malig-
nant Nature first bred these cruel plagues ; from
her throat were born the snakes that poured forth
<< shrill hissings with their forked tongues. It pleased
Medusa, when snakes dangled close against her
neck ; in the way that women dress their hair, the
vipers hang loose over her back but rear erect over
her brow in front ; and their poison wells out when
the tresses are combed. These snakes are the only
part of ill-fated Medusa that all men may look upon
and live. For who ever felt fear of the monster's
face and open mouth ? Who that looked her
straight in the face was suffered by Medusa to die ?
wShe hurried on the hesitating stroke of doom and
anticipated all fear ; the limbs were destroyed while
the breath remained ; and the spirit, before it went
foith, grew stiff beneath the bones. The tresses
of the Eumenides raised madness only, Cerberus
lowered his hissing when Orpheus played, and
Amphitryon's son looked on the hydra when he
was conquering it ; but this monster was dreaded
by Phorcys, her own father and second ^ ruler of
the sea, by her mother, Ceto, and even by her sister
Gorgons ; she had power to threaten sky and sea
with strange paralysis, and clothe the world with
stone. Birds grew heavy suddenly and fell down
from the sky ; beasts remained motionless on their
rocks ; and whole tribes of the neighbouring
Ethiopians were turned to statues. No living
creature could endure to look on her, and even her
serpents bent backward to escape her face. She
turned to stone Atlas, the Titan who supports the

553

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

In cautes Atlanta dedit ; caeloque timente 665

Olim Phlegraeo stantes serpente gigantas

Erexit montes, bellumque inmane deorum

Pallados e medio confecit pectore Gorgon.

Quo postquam partu Danaes et divite nimbo

Ortum Parrhasiae vexerunt Persea pinnae 660

Arcados auctoris citharae liquidaeque palaestrae,

Et subitus praepes Cjllenida sustulit harpen,

Harpen alterius monstri iam caede rubentem,

A love dilectae fuso custode iuvencae,

Auxilium volucri Pallas tulit innuba fratri, 665

Pacta caput monstri^ terraeque in fine Libyssae

Persea Phoebeos converti iussit ad ortus

Gorgonos averso sulcantem regna volatu,

Et clipeum laevae fulvo dedit aere nitentem,

In quo saxificam iussit spectare Medusam. 670

Quam sopor aeternam tracturus morte quietem

Obruit baud totam : vigilat pars magna comarum,

Defenduntque caput protenti crinibus hydri ;

Pars iacet in medios voltus oculisque tenebras

Offundit clausis et somni diiplicat umbras}-

Ipsa regit trepidum Pallas dextraque trementera 675

Perseos aversi Cyllenida derigit harpen,

Lata colubriferi rumpens confinia colli.

Quos habuit voltus hamati volnere ferri

Caesa caput Gorgon ! quanto spirare veneno

* Inserted by Eousman.

1 Pallas bore the Gorgon's head on the centre of the aegis,
her shield.

2 Hermes (Mercury) : he was born on Mount Cyllene in
Arcarlia.

* Argus was the guardian of To.

554

BOOK IX

Pillars of the West ; and when the gods in time
past dreaded the serpent-legged Giants at Phlegra,
she changed the rebels into high mountains, till that
awful battle of the gods was won by the Gorgon
on the centre of the breast of Pallas.^ To this land
came Perseus, sprung of Danae's womb and the
shower of gold ; he was borne aloft on the Parr-
hasian wings of that Arcadian god ^ who invented
the lyre and the wrestler's oil. And when, as he
flew, he suddenly lifted the scimitar of the Cyllenian
— a scimitar red with the blood of another monster ;
for he had already laid low the guardian of the
heifer loved by Jupiter ^ — the maiden Pallas brought
aid to her winged brother. She bargained to have
the monster's head, and then bade Perseus when
he reached the border of the Libyan land, to turn
towards the rising sun and fly backwards through
the Gorgon's realm; and she put in his left hand
a glittering shield of tawny bronze, in which she
told him to view Medusa that turned all things to
stone. Medusa slept; but the slumber that was to
bring upon her the unending rest of death did not
overcome her wholly : much of her hair kept watch,
and the snakes leaned forward from the tresses to
protect the head, while the rest of the hair fell
right over the face, covering the closed eyes with
darkness and doubling the veil of sleep. Pallas
herself directed Perseus in his haste ; her right
hand guided the shaking scimitar of the Cyllenian
which he held with his face averted ; and thus she
clove the place where the great snaky neck joined
the body. How looked the Gorgon then, when her
head was severed by the stroke of the curving blade !
What fell poison must I suppose was breathed forth

555

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Ora rear, quantumque oculos efFundere mortis ! 680

Nee Pallas spectare potest, voltusque gelassent

Perseos aversi, si non Tritonia densos

Sparsisset crines texissetque ora colubris,

Aliger in caelum sic rapta Gorgone fugit.

Ille quidem pensabat iter propiusque secabat 686

Aera, si medias Europae scinderet urbes :

Pallas frugiferas iussit non laedere terras

Et parci populis. Quis enim non praepete tanto

Aethera respiceret ? Zephyro convertitur ales

Itque super Libyen, quae nuUo consita cultu 690

Sideribus Phoeboque vacat ; premit orbita solis

Exuritque solum, nee terra celsior ulla

Nox cadit in caelum lunaeque meatibus obstat.

Si flexus oblita vagi per recta cucurrit

Siij^na nee in Borean aut in Noton eflTugit umbram. 695

Ilia tamen sterilis tellus fecundaque nulli

Arva bono virus stillantis tabe Medusae

Concipiunt dirosque fero de sanguine rores,

Quos calor adiuvit putrique incoxit harenae.

Hie quae prima caput movit de pulvere tabes 700

Aspida somniferam tumida cervice levavit.
Plenior buc sanguis et crassi gutta veneni
Decidit ; in nulla plus est serpente coactum.
Ipsa caloris egens gelidum non transit in orbem
Sponte sua Niloque tenus metitur harenas. 705

Sed — quis erit nobis lucri pudor ? — inde petuntur

1 Pallas.

* The sun is directly overhead in equatorial regions by day,
the earth's conical shadow directly overhead at night, and
therefore higher than over other places.

556

BOOK IX

by her mouth, and how deadly the discharge from
her eyes! Even Pallas could not look upon her;
and the eyes would have frozen the face of Perseus,
though his back was turned, had not Tritonia^
ruffled the thick hair and used the snakes to veil
the face. Thus he seized the Gorgon's head and
flew upwards in safety. He thought to shorten his
way and lessen his flight through the air by flying
directly above the cities of Europe ; but Pallas bade
him spare the nations and do no hurt to the corn-
bearing lands. For who would not look up into the
sky, when so mighty a thini^ flew past ? The hero
turned his flight with the West wind and passed
above Libya, a land entirely uncultivated and fully
exposed to sky and sun ; the sun's path is directly
above it and burns up the soil ; in no land does the
shadow of the earth rise higher in the sky '^ and
obstruct the moon's course, if the moon, forgetting
her slanting orbit, has moved straight along the
Zodiac, without passing to north or south of the
shadow. Though that land is barren and those
fields give increase to no good seed, yet they drank
in poison from the gore of the dripping Medusa
head — drank in from that savage blood a ghastly
dew, which was made more potent by the heat and
burnt into the crumbling sand.

In this land the blood, when it first stirred a head
above the sand, sent up the asp whose swollen neck
puts men to sleep ; in no snake is more poison con-
densed ; for more blood and a drop of clotted
venom fell down here. Needing heat, the asp
never of its own accord passes into cold regions,
but traverses the desert as far as the Nile and no
further. But we -shall we never be ashamed of

557

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Hue Libycae mortes, et fecimus aspida mercem.
At non stare suum miseris passura cruorem
Squamiferos ingens haemorrhois explicat orbes^
Natus et ambiguae coleret qui Syrtidos arva 710

Chersydros, tractique via fumante chelydri,
Et semper recto lapsurus limite cenchris :
Pluribus ille notis variatam tinguitur alvum
Quam parvis pictus maculis Thebanus ophites.
Concolor exustis atque indiscretus harenis 715

Hammodytes, spinaque vagi torquente cerastae,
Et scytale sparsis etiamnunc sola pruinis
Exuvias positura suas, et torrida dipsas,
Et gravis in geminum vergens caput amphisbaena,
Et natrix violator aquae, iaculique volucres, 720

Et contentus iter cauda sulcare parias,
Oraque distendens avidus spumantia prester,
Ossaque dissolvens cura corpore tabificus seps ;
Sibilaque efFundens cunctas terrentia pestes.
Ante venena nocens, late sibi sumraovet omne 725

Volgus et in vacua regnat basiliscus harena.
Vos quoque, qui cunctis innoxia numina terris
Serpitis, aurato nitidi fulgore dracones,
Letiferos ardens facit Africa : ducitis altuin
Aera cura pinnis, armentaque tota secuti 730

Rumpitis ingentes amplexi verbere tauros ;
Nee tutus spatio est elephans : datis omnia leto.
Nee vobis opus est ad noxia fata veneno.
Has inter pestes duro Cato milite siccum

^ Presumably for poison.
^ A kind of marble.

558

BOOK IX

gain ? — ^import the bane of Africa to Italy and have
made the asp an article of commerce.^ And there
the huge haemorrhois, which will not suffer the blood
of its victim to stay in the veins, opens out its scaly
coils ; there is the chersydros, created to inhabit the
Syrtis, half land and half sea ; the chelydrus, whose
track smokes as it glides along ; the cenchris, which
moves ever in a straight line — its belly is more
thickly chequered and spotted than the Theban
serpentine ^ with its minute patterns ; the ammodyteSy
of the same colour as the scorched sand and indistin-
guishable from it ; the cerastes^ which wanders about
as its spine makes it turn ; the scytale, which alone can
shed its skin while the rime is still scattered over
the ground ; the dried-up dipsas ; the fell amphis-
baena, that moves towards each of its two heads;
the natrix, which pollutes waters, and the iaculus,
that can fly ; the parias, that is content to plough
a track with its tail ; the greedy prester, that opens
wide its foaming mouth ; the deadly seps, that
destroys the bones with the body ; and there the
basilisk terrifies all the other snakes by the hissing
it sends forth, and kills before it bites ; it compels
all the inferior serpents to keep their distance,
and lords it over the empty desert. Dragons also,
glittering with the sheen of gold, though worshipped
in all other countries as harmless and divine, are
made deadly by the heat of Africa : they draw
in the air of heaven, birds and all ; pursuing
whole herds, they coil round mighty bulls and
slay them with blows from their tail ; nor is the
elephant saved by his bulk — all things they consign
to destruction, and need no poison to inflict death.
Amidst these plagues Cato travels on his water-

559

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Emetitur iter, tot tristia fata suorum 736

Insolitasque videns parvo cum volnere mortes.

Signiferum iuvenem Tyrrheni sanguinis Aulum

Torta caput retro dipsas calcata momordit.

Vix dolor aut sensus dentis fuit, ipsaque leti

Frons caret invidia, nee quidquam plaga minatur. 740

Ecce subit virus taciturn, carpitque medullas

Ignis edax calidaque incendit viscera tabe.

Ebibit umorem circum vitalia fusum

Pestis et in sicco linguam torrere palate

Coepit ; defessos iret qui sudor in artus, 746

Non fuit, atque oculos lacrimarum vena refugit.

Non decus imperii, non maesti iura Catonis

Ardentem tenuere virum, ne spargere signa

Auderet totisque furens exquireret arvis

Quas poscebat aquas sitiens in corde venenum. 760

Ille vel in Tanain missus Rhodanumque Padumque

Arderet Nilumque bibens per rura vagantem.

Accessit morti Li bye, fatique minorem

Famam dipsas habet terris adiuta perustis.

Scrutatur venas penitus squalentis harenae ; 766

Nunc redit ad Syrtes et fluctus accipit ore,

Aequoreusque placet, sed non et sufficit, umor.

Nee sentit fatique genus mortemque veneni,

Sed putat esse sitim ; ferroque aperire tumentes

Sustinuit venas atque os inplere cruore. 76u

lussit signa rapi propere Cato : discere nulli
560

BOOK IX

less way with his hardy soldiers, witnessing the
cruel fate of man after man, and strange forms of
death accompanied by a trifling wound. So Aulus,
a standard-bearer of Etruscan blood, trod on a dipsas,
and it drew back its head and bit him. He had
hardly any pain or feeling of tlie bite ; the mere
appearance of the deadly wound was innocent, nor
did the injury threaten any consequences. But lo !
the hidden venom rises ; devouring flame catches
hold of the marrow and kindles the inmost parts
with destroying fire. The poison dried up the
moisture that surrounds the vital organs, and began
to consume the tongue in the parched mouth ; no
sweat was left to run down over the suffering limbs,
and the flow of tears deserted the eyes. The man
was on fire ; and neither national pride nor the
authority of grief-stricken Cato could stop him :
boldly he threw down the standard and searched
everywhere in his frenzy for the water which the
thirsty j)oison at his heart demanded. If he were
plunged into the Tanais, the Rhone, or the Po, he
would go on burning, or if he drank of the Nile
when it floods the fields. But Libya made death
more deadly ; and the dipsas, when aided by the
heat of that country, deserves less fame for its
powers of destruction. Aulus searches for water
deep down in the barren sand, and then returns to
the Syrtes, and swallows the brine ; the sea-water
gives him pleasure, but there is not enough of it.
The nature of his suffering and his death by poison
were unperceived by him : he thought it was merely
thirst, and ventured to open his swollen veins with
his sword, and fill his mouth with the blood.

Cato ordered the army to march away in haste :

561

VOL. I. T

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Permissum est hoc posse sitim. Sed tristior illo

Mors erat ante oculos, miserique in crure Sabelli

Seps stetit exiguus ; quem flexo dente tenacem

Avolsitque manu piloque adfixit harenis. 765

Parva modo serpens sed qua non ulla cruentae

Tantum mortis habet. Nam plagae proxima circum

Fugit rupta cutis pallentiaque ossa retexit ;

lamque sinu laxo nudum sine corpore volnus.

Membra natant sanie, surae fluxere, sine ullo 770

Tegmine poples erat, femorum quoque musculus omnis

Liquitur, et nigra destillant inguina tabe.

Dissiluit stringens uterum membrana, fluuntque

Viscera ; nec^ quantus toto de corpore debet,

Effluit in terras, saevum sed membra venenum 775

Decoquit, in minimum mors contrahit omnia virus.

Quidquid homo est, aperit pestis natura profana : 779

Vincula nervorum et laterum textura cavumque 777

Pectus et abstrusum fibris vitalibus omne

Morte patet. Manant umeri fortesque lacerti, 780

CoUa caputque fluunt: calido non ocius Austro

Nix resoluta cadit nee solem cera sequetur.

Parva loquor, corpus sanie stillasse perustum :

Hoc et flamma potest ; sed quis rogus abstulit ossa ?

Haec quoque discedunt, putresque secuta medullas 785

Nulla manere sinunt rapid! vestigia fati.

562

BOOK IX

none was allowed to learn that thirst could go so
far. But a death more dreadful than that of Aulus
was full in their view. When a tiny seps stuck in
the leg of hapless Sabellus and clung there with
barbed fang, he tore it off and pinned it to the sand
with his javelin. Though this reptile is small in
size, no other possesses such deadly powers. For
the skin nearest the wound broke and shrank all
round, revealing the white bone, until, as the
opening widened, there was one gaping wound and
no body. The limbs are soaked with corrupted
blood ; the calves of the legs melted away, the knees
were stripped of covering, all the muscles of the
thighs rotted, and a black discharge issued from
the groin. The membrane that confines the belly
snapped asunder, and the bowels gushed out. The
man trickles into the ground, but there is less of
him than an entire body should supply ; for the fell
poison boils down the limbs, and tJhe manner of
death reduces the whole man to a little pool of cor-
ruption. The whole human frame is revealed by
the horrible nature of the mischief : the ligaments
of the sinews, the structure of the lungs, the cavity
of the chest, and all that the vital organs conceal, —
every part is laid bare by death. The shoulders
and strong arms turn to water ; the neck and head
are liquefied ; snow does not melt and vanish more
quickly before the warm South wind, nor will wax
be affected faster by the sun. It is little to say that
the flesh was consumed and dripped away in the
form of matter : fire also can do this, but no pyre
ever made the bones disappear. They also vanish :
following the corrupted marrow, they suffer no
traces of the quick death to survive. Among the

563

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Cinypbias inter pestes tibi palma nocendi est :
Eripiunt omnes animam, tu sola cadaver.

Ecce subit facies leto di versa fluenti.
Nasidium Marsi eultorem torridus agri 790

Percussit prester. lUi rubor igneus ora
Succendit, tenditque cutem pereunte figura
Miscens cuncta tumor ; toto iam corpore maior
Humanumque egressa modum super omnia membra
Efflatur sanies late pollente veneno; 795

Ipse latet penitus congesto corpore mersus.
Nee lorica tenet distenti pectoris ^ auctum.
Spumeus accenso non sic exundat aeno
Undarum cumulus^ nee tantos carbasa Core
Curvavere sinus. Tumidos iam non capit artus 800

Informis globus et confuso pondere truncus.
Intactum volucrum rostris epulasque daturum
Haud inpune feris non ausi tradere busto
Nondum stante modo crescens fugere cadaver.

Sed maiora parant Libycae spectacula pestes. 805

Inpressit dentes haemorrhois aspera Tullo,
Magnanimo iuveni miratorique Catonis.
Utque solet pariter totis se fundere signis
Corycii pressura croci^ sic omnia membra
Emisere simul rutilum pro sanguine virus. 810

Sanguis erant lacrimae ; quaecumque foramina novit
Umor, ab his largus manat cruor ; ora redundant
Et patulae nares ; sudor rubet ; omnia plenis
Membra fluunt venis ; totum est pro volnere corpus.

1 pectoris Bentley : corporis M8S.

^ Saffron -water was used by the "Romans to perfume their
theatres ; and it appears from this passage that it was forced
out of perforations in metal statues.

BOOK IX

plagues of Africa the seps bears off the palm for
destruction : all the rest take life, but it alone
carries off the dead body.

But lo ! a form of death is seen, the opposite to death
by liquefaction. Nasidius, once a tiller of Marsian
soil, was smitten by a burning prester. His face
grew fiery red, and swelling distended the skin till
all shape was lost and all features were confounded ;
then, as the strong poison spread, the hurt, larger
than the whole body or than any human body, was
blown out over all the limbs ; the man himself was
buried deep within his bloated frame, nor could his
breast-plate contain the growth of his swollen chest.
The foaming cloud of steam pours forth less strongly
from a heated caldron ; and smaller are the curves
of bellying sails in a tempest. The distended limbs
can no longer be contained by the body — a round
and featureless mass with no distinct parts. The
body remained untouched by the beaks of birds, and
menaced death to wild beasts that feasted on it ; the
soldiers dared not consign it to a pyre, but fled from
it, leaving it still swelling, with a growth not yet
arrested.

But even greater marvels were shown by the
serpents of Africa. Tullus, a courageous youth who
worshipped Cato, was bitten by a fierce haemorrhois.
And as Corycian saffron, when turned on, is wont to
spout from every part of a statue at once,^ so all his
limbs discharged red poison together instead of blood.
His tears were blood ; blood flowed abundantly from
all the openings that the body's moisture uses ; his
mouth and open nostrils were filled with it ; he
sweated blood ; all his limbs streamed with the con-
tents of his veins ; his whole body was one wound.

565

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

At tibij Laeve miser, fixus praecordia pressit 816

Niliaca serpente cruor, nuUoque dolore
Testatus morsus subita caligine mortem
Accipis et socias somno descendis ad umbras.
Non tam veloci corrumpunt pocula leto,
Stipite quae diro virgas mentita Sabaeas 820

Toxica fatilegi carpunt matura Saitae.

Ecce procul saevus sterilis se robore trunci
Torsit et inmisit — iaculum vocat Africa — serpens
Perque caput Pauli transactaque tempora fugit.
Nil ibi virus agit : rapuit cum volnere fatum. 825

Deprensum est, quae funda rotat quam lenta volarent,
Quam segnis Scythicae strideret harundinis aer.

Quid prodest miseri basiliscus cuspide Murri
Transactus ? velox currit per tela venenum
Invaditque manum ; quam protinus ille retecto 830

Ense ferit totoque semel demittit ab armo,
Exemplarque sui spectans miserabile leti
Stat tutus pereunte manu. Quis fata putarit ^
Scorpion aut vires maturae mortis habere ?
Ille minax nodis et recto verbere saevus 835

Teste tulit caelo victi decus Orionis.
Quis calcare tuas metuat, salpuga, latebras ?
Et tibi dant Stygiae ius in sua fila sorores.

Sic nee clara dies nee nox dabat atra quietem,
Suspecta miseris in qua tellure iacebant. 840

Nam neque congestae struxere cubilia frondes,

^ putarit Bentley : putavit M8S.

^ I.e., Parthian.

' By the constellation called Scorpio. According to one
account, Orion was killed by a Bcorpion sent by Artemis.
' Said to be a kind of venomous ant.
* The Parcae or Fates.

566

BOOK IX

Next, a serpent of the Nile froze the blood of
hapless Laevus and stopped his heart. By no pain
did he confess the wound, but suffered death by
sudden unconsciousness, and went down by the way
of sleep to join the ghosts of his comrades. The
ripened poisons plucked by the wizards of Sais —
poisons whose deadly stalks resemble the twigs of
Arabia — do not infect the cup with so swift a death.

Behold ! a fierce serpent, called by Africa iaculus,
aimed and hurled itself at Paulus from a barren tree
far off; piercing the head and passing through the
temples, it escaped. Poison played no part there :
death simultaneous with the wound snatched him
away. Men discovered then how slow was the
flight of the bullet from the sling, and how sluggish
the whizz of the Scythian ^ arrow through the air.

Ill-starred Murrus drove his spear through a
basilisk, but that availed him nothing : the poison
sped swiftly along the weapon and fastened on his
hand. At once he bared his sword and cut it off
with one stroke, right from the shoulder ; and there
he stood safe while his hand was destroyed, watching
the semblance of the pitiful death that would have
been his own. Who could suppose that the scorpion
was fatal, or large enough to inflict speedy death?
Yet heaven bears witness'^ that the scorpion, threaten-
ing with its knotted tail and fierce with its sting
erect, won the glory of defeating Orion. Who
would fear to tread on the lair of the salpuga ? ^ Yet
even to it the Stygian sisters * gave power over their
spinning.

So neither bright day nor black night brought
rest to the wretched men : they could not trust the
ground they lay on. For no piled-up leaves reared

567

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Nee eulmis erevere tori, sed corpora fatis

Expositi volvuntur humo, calidoque vapore

Adliciunt gelidas nocturno frigore pestes,

Innocuosque diu rictus torpente veneno 845

Inter membra fovent. Nee, quae mensura viarum

Qiiisve modus, norunt caelo duce : saej)e querentes

" Reddite, di," clamant " miseris quae fugimus arma,

Reddite Thessaliam. Patimur cur segnia fata

In gladios iurata manus ? pro Caesare pugnant 860

Dipsades et peragunt civilia bella cerastae.

Ire libet, qua zona rubens atque axis inustus

Solis equis, iuvat aetheriis aseribere causis,

Quod peream, caeloque mori. Nil, Africa, de te

Nee de te, natura, queror : tot monstra ferentem 865

Gentibus ablatum dederas serpentibus orbem,

Inpatiensque solum Cereris cultore negato

Damnasti atque homines voluisti desse venenis.

In loca serpentum nos venimus : accipe poenas

Tu, quisquis superum commercia nostra perosus 860

Hinc torrente plaga, dubiis hinc Syrtibus orbem

Abrumpens medio posuisti limite mortes.

Per secreta tui bellum civile recessus

Vadit, et arcani miles tibi conscius orbis

Claustra ferit mundi. Forsan maiora supersunt 866

Ingressis : coeunt ignes stridentibus undis,

Et premitur natura poll ; sed longius istac ^

Nulla iacet tellus, quam fama cognita nobis

* istac Rousman : ista MSS.

1 Where the sun sets in the ocean.
568

BOOK IX

up beds for them, nor was straw heaped beneath
them : leaving then* bodies exposed to death, they
lie down upon the ground, and their warmth attracts
the snakes that suffer from the cold at night ; and
for long they warm with their limbs the open
mouths that are harmless while the poison is
numbed. With only the stars to guide them, they
know not in what direction they have marched, or
how far ; and often they cry aloud this complaint :
*' Ye gods, restore to us wretches the battle from
whicli we fled : give us back Pliarsalia. We swore
to use the sword : why then do we suffer a coward's
death ? The vipers fight in Caesar's place, and the
adders win the civil war. Fain would we go to the
torrid zone, where the ecliptic is burnt by the sun's
steeds ; we had rather impute our death to the sky's
agency and be killed by heaven. I do not blame
Africa, nor Nature : Nature had taken from men and
assigned to serpents a region so fertile of monsters :
the soil would bear no corn, and she condemned it to
lie untilled ; she intended that the poisonous fangs
should find no men to bite. We are trespassers in a
land of serpents: let us pay the penalty to that
unknown Power which loathes the traffic of nations,
and therefore fenced off a region with a scorching
zone on one hand and the shifting Syrtes on the
other, and set death in the strip between the two.
Through his secret retreat civil war marches on ;
and the soldiers, sharing his knowledge of this
mysterious region, beat on the gates that shut in the
West. Worse things perhaps await us when we
enter there : fire and hissing water meet,^ and the
sky sinks lower down ; but, on our present course,
there lies no land more remote than the gloomy

569

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Tristia regna lubae. Quaeremus forsitan istas

Serpentum terras : liabet hoc solacia caelum : 870

Vivit adhuc aliquid. Patriae non arva require

Europamque alios soles Asiamque videntem :

Qua te parte poli, qua te tellure reliqui,

Africa? Cyrenis etiamnunc bruma rigebat:

Exiguaiie via legem convertimus anni ? 875

Imus in adversos axes^ evolvimur orbe,

Terga damus ferieiida Noto ; nunc forsitan ipsa est

Sub pedibus iam Roma meis. Solacia fati

Haec petimus : veniant hostes, Caesarque sequatur,

Qua fugimus." Sic dura suos patientia questus 880

Exonerat. Cogit tantos tolerare labores

Summa duels virtus, qui nuda fusus harena

Excubat atque omni fortunam provocat bora.

Omnibus unus adest fatis ; quocumque vocatus

Advolat atque ingens meritum maiusque salute 886

Contulit, in letum vires ; puduitque gementem

lllo teste mori. Quod ius habuisset in ipsum

Ulla lues ? casus alieno in pectore vincit I

Spectatorque docet magnos nil posse dolores.

Vix miseris serum tanto lassata periclo 890

Auxilium Fortuna dedit. Gens unica terras
Incolit a saevo serpentum innoxia morsu,
Marmaridae Psylli. Par lingua potentibus herbis,
Ipse cruor tutus nullumque admittere virus

^ They are marching westwards, but speak as if they were
going towards the South Pole. The south wind is conceived
as rising from the Equator, so that, when they have passed
the Equator, they will have it at their backs.

BOOK IX

kingdom of Juba, known to us by report alone.
Perhaps we shall yet regret this land of serpents:
this clime has one consolation — that life is still
found here. I do not ask fOr my native fields, nor
for Europe and Asia that see another sun; but
where is Africa? In what quarter of the sky or
region of the earth did I come out of it? But
lately there was winter's frost at Gyrene ; has a short
march had power to invert the order of the year?
We are marching towards the opposite pole, evicted
from the world, and turning our backs for the South
wind to strike ; ^ perhaps Rome itself is now beneath
my feet. To comfort us in our doom, we ask that
our foes may come here, and that Caesar may follow
the line of our flight." Thus stubborn endurance
throws off the burden of its complaints. They are
constrained to bear such hardships by the heroism of
their leader, who keeps guard lying on the bare
sand and challenges destiny every hour. Though
but one, he is present at every death-struggle ;
wherever they call him, he hastens and confers a
mighty benefit, greater even than life, by giving
them courage to die ; and the soldier was ashamed,
when watched by Cato, to die with a groan upon
his lips. Against himself no plague could have any
power. He conquered calamities in the hearts of
others, and proved by his mere presence that sore
pain was powerless.

Reluctantly and late did Fortune, wearied of inflict-
ing such dangers, give aid to their wretched plight.
Of the races that inhabit the earth there is but one,
the Psylli of Marmarica, who are unhurt by the fell
bite of serpents. Their voice has the efficacy of
powerful drugs ; their very blood is protected and

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Vel cantu cessante potens. Natura locorum 805

lussit, ut inmunes mixtis serpentibus essent.

Profuit in mediis sedem posuisse venenis.

Pax illis cum morte data est. Fiducia tanta est

Sanguinis : in terras parvus cum decidit infans,

Ne qua sit externae Veneris mixtura timentes 900

Letifica dubios explorant aspide partus.

Utque lovis volucer, calido cum protulit ovo

Inplumes natos, sol is convertit ad ortus :

Qui potuere pati radios et lumine recto

Sustinuere diem, caeli servantur in usus, 905

Qui Phoebo cessere, iacent : sic pignora gentis

Psyllus habet, si quis tactos non horruit angues.

Si quis donatis lusit serpentibus infans.

Nee solum gens ilia sua contenta salute

Excubat hospitibus, contraque nocentia monstra 910

Psyllus adest populis. Qui tum Romana secutus

Signa, simul iussit statui tentoria ductor,

Primum, quas valli spatium conprendit, harenas

Expurgat cantu verbisque fugantibus angues.

Ultima castrorum medicatus circumit ignis. 915

Hie ebulum stridet peregrinaque galbana sudant^

Et tamarix non laeta comas Eoaque costos

Et panacea potens et Thessala centaurea

Peucedanonque sonant flammis Erycinaque thapsos,

Et larices fumoque gravem serpentibus urunt 920

Habrotonum et longe nascentis cornua cervi.

Sic nox tuta viris. At si quis peste diurna

1 From death by poisoa.
572

BOOK IX AA M

can keep out all poison, even without the use of
charms. The nature of their land has bidden them
live unliarmed in the midst of serpents. By making
their abode where poison surrounds them, they have
gained this advantage, that death has granted them
a safe-conduct.^ Great is their reliance upon their
blood: whenever a new-born babe falls to earth,
fearing some contamination of foreign breed, they
test the suspected infant by means of a venomous
asp. As the bird of Jove turns his un feathered
eaglets, when hatched from the warm egg, to face
the rising sun — those who prove able to endure the
beams, and can gaze without flinching straight at the
light, are kept alive for the service of the god ; but
those whom the sun has mastered are neglected — so
the Psylli are convinced that the breed is true, if the
babe shrinks not to touch snakes and makes a play-
thing of the serpent given him. And that race, not
satisfied with safety for themselves, keep guard for
strangers and aid mankind against deadly monsters.
They followed tlie Roman army now ; and, as soon
as the leader ordered the tents to be pitched, they
began by purifying the sand within the circuit of the
rampart with spells and charms to banish the snakes.
The limits of the camj) were surrounded by a fire of
fumigation, in which elder-wood crackled and
foreign galbanum bubbled ; the tamarisk of scanty
leaf. Eastern costos, powerful all-heal, Thessalian
centaury, fennel, and Sicilian thapsos made a noise
in the flame ; and the natives also burned larchwood,
and southernwood whose smoke snakes loathe, and
horns of deer — deer whose birthplace is far from
Africa. Thus the soldiers were protected at night.
But if any man was smitten by day and near death,

573

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Fata trahit, tunc sunt magicae miracula ycntis
Psyllorumque ingens et rapti pugna veneni.
Nam primum tacta designat membra saliva, 925

Quae cohibet virus retinetque in volnere pestem ;
Plurima tunc volvit spumanti carmina lingua
Murmure continue, nee dat suspiria cursus
Volneris, aut minimum patiuntur fata tacere.
Saepe quidem pestis nigris inserta medullis 930

Excantata fugit ; sed, si quod tardius audit
Virus et elicitum iussumque exire repugnat,
Turn super incumbens pallentia volnera lambit
Ore venena trahens et siccat dentibus artus,
Extractamque potens gelido de corpore mortem 935
Expuit ; et cuius morsus superaverit anguis,
lam promptum Psyllis vel gustu nosse veneni.
Hoc igitur tandem levior Romana iuventus
Auxilio late squalentibus errat in arvis.
Bis positis Phoebe flammis, bis luce recepta 940

Vidit harenivagum surgens fugiensque Catonem.
lamque illi magis atque magis durescere pulvis
Coepit et in terram Libye spissata redire,
lamque procul rarae nemorum se tollere frondes,
Surgere congesto non culta mapalia culmo. 946

Quanta dedit miseris melioris gaudia terrae.
Cum primum saevos contra videre leones !
Proxima Leptis erat, cuius statione quieta
Exfegere hiemem nimbis flammisque carentem.

^ Plutarch's more sober account limits this march to seven
days ; Lucan prolongs it to two months.

574

BOOK IX

then the wondrous powers of the people were dis-
played, and there was a mighty battle between the
Psylli and the poison absorbed. The native begins
by marking the part with the touch of his spittle ;
this arrests the venom and confines it to the wound ;
and then his foaming lips rehearse full many a spell
with unbroken muttering ; for the speed of the
ailment suffers him not to draw breath, nor does
death permit a moment's silence. Often indeed the
bane, after it has lodged in the blackened marrow,
is expelled by incantation ; but, whenever the poison
is slow to obey, and resists when it is summoned
forth and commanded to come out, then the healer
leans over and licks the bloodless place, sucking up
the venom and draining the limbs with his teeth,
until victorious he drags out the death from the cold
body, and spits it out of his mouth. And it is a
simple thing for the Psylli to tell by the taste of the
poison what kind of snake it was whose bite the
healer has mastered.

So, relieved at last by their aid, the Roman
soldiers wandered far and wide over the barren
plains. Twice had the moon lost her light and
twice regained it, while her rising and setting
witnessed Cato lost in the desert.^ But now he felt
the sand grow ever firmer under his feet, and the soil
of Africa became solid ground again ; and now the
leaves of trees began here and there to rise in the
distance, and rude huts raised with piles of straw.
How the sufferers rejoiced to have reached a better
country, when first they saw facing them fierce lions
only ! Leptis was the nearest city ; and in those
peaceful quarters they spent all winter, unvexed by
storms or heat.

575

M. ANNARUS LUCANUS

Caesar, ut Emathia satiatus clade recessit, 950

Cetera curarum proiecit pondera soli
Intentus genero ; cuius vestigia frustra
Terris sparsa legens fama duce tendit in undas,
Threiciasque legit fauces et amore notatum
Aequor et Heroas lacrimoso litore turres, 955

Qua pelago nomen Nepheleias abstulit Helle.
Non Asiam brevioris aquae disterminat usquam
Fluctus ab Europa, quamvis Byzantion arto
Pontus et ostriferam dirimat Calchedona cursu,
Euxinuraque ferens parvo ruat ore Propontis. 960

Sigeasque petit famae mirator harenas
Et Simoentis aquas et Graio nobile busto
Rhoetion et niultum debentes vatibus umbras.
Circumit exustae nomen memorabile Troiae
Magnaque Phoebei quaerit vestigia muri. 965

lam silvae steriles et putres robore trunci
Assaraci pressere domos et templa deorura
lam lassa radice tenent, ac tota teguntur
Pergama dumetis : etiam periere ruinae.
Aspicit Hesiones scopulos silvaque latentes 970

Anchisae thalamos ; quo iudex sederit antro,
Unde puer raptus caelo, quo vertice Nais
Luxerit Oenone : nullum est sine nomine saxum.
Inscius in sicco serpentem pulvere rivum
Transierat, qui Xanthus erat. Securus in alto 976

Gramine ponebat gressus : Phryx incola manes

^ It was called the Hellespont, after Helle. The "lovers'*
are Hero and Leander.

* Ajax. ^ Ganymede.

BOOK IX

When Caesar had taken his fill of the slaughter
and left Pharsalia, he cast off the burden of all other
cares and turned his attention wholly to his son-in-
law. In vain he followed Pompey's scattered traces
over the land, and then report guided him to the
sea. He sailed along the Thracian straits and the
waters made famous by the lovers, and past Hero's
turrets on the melancholy shore where Helle,

ti- daughter of Nephele, robbed a sea of its name.^
Nowhere does a smaller stretch of water sever Asia
from Europe, although the channel is narrow by
which the Euxine divides Byzantium from the

, oyster-beds of Calchedon, and the opening is small

'by which the Propontis carries in its course the
waters of the Euxine. Emulous of ancient glory,
Caesar visited the sands of Sigeum and the stream of
Simois, Rhoeteum famous for the Grecian's ^ grave,
and the dead who owe so much to the poet's verse.

<ift He walked round the burnt city of Troy, now only
a famous name, and searched for the mighty remains
of the wall that Apollo raised. Now barren woods
and rotting tree-trunks grow over the palace
of Assaracus, and their worn-out roots clutch the
temples of the gods, and Pergama is covered over
with thorn-brakes : the very ruins have been
destroyed. He sees Hesione's rock and the secret
marriage-chamber of Anchises in the wood ; the
cave in which Paris sat as umpire, and the spot from
which the boy ^ was carried off to the sky ; he sees
the peak on which the Naiad Oenone lamented. A
legend clings to every stone. The stream trickling
through the dry dust, which he crossed without
knowing it, was the Xanthus. When he stepped
carelessly over the rank grass, the native bade him

577

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Hectoreos calcare vetat. Discussa iacebant
Saxa nee uUius faciem servantia sacri :
"Hereeas " monstrator ait ^'noii respicis aras? **

O sacer et magnus vatum labor ! omnia fato 980

Eripis et populis donas mortalibus aevum.
Invidia sacrae, Caesar, ne tangere famae ;
Nam, si quid Latiis fas est promittere Musis,
Quantum Zmyrnaei durabunt vatis honores,
Venturi me teque legent ; Pharsalia nostra 986

Vivet, et a nuUo tenebris damnabimur aevo.

Ut ducis inplevit visus veneranda vetustas,
Erexit subitas congestu caespitis aras
Votaque turicremos non inrita fudit in ignes,
" Di cinerum, Phrygias colitis quicumque ruinas, 990
Aeneaeque mei, quos nunc Lavinia sedes
Servat et Alba, lares, et quorum lucet in aris
Ignis adhuc Phrygius, nullique aspecta virorum
Pallas, in abstruso pignus memorabile templo,
Gentis luleae vestris clarissimus aris 995

Dat pia tura nepos et vos in sede priore
Rite vocat. Date felices in cetera cursus,
Restituam populos ; grata vice moenia reddent
Ausonidae Phrygibus, Romanaque Pergama surgent."
Sic fatus repetit classes et tota secundis 1000

Vela dedit Coris, avidusque urguente procella
lliacas pensare moras Asiamque potentem
Praevehitur pelagoque Rhodon spumante relinquit.

* Zfvs (pKfLOs, worshipped as god of Priam's household.

^ The meaning is that Homer's Iliad is more certain of
immortality than any Latin epic. Smyrna was one of the cities
which claimed to be the birthplace of Homer.

' "Fought by you and told by me " is his meaning (Housman).

* The Palladium, or image of Pallas, on which the safety
of Troy depended.

578

'

BOOK IX

not to walk over the body of Hector. When
scattered stones^ preserving no appearance of sanctity,
lay before them, the guide asked : " Do you mean to
pass over the altar of Zeus Herceos ^ ? '

How mighty, how sacred is the poet's task ! He
snatches all things from destruction and gives to
mortal men immortality. Be not jealous, Caesar, of
those whom fame has consecrated ; for, if it is
permissible for the Latin Muses to promise aught,^
then, as long as the fame of Smyrna's bard endures,
posterity shall read my verse and your deeds ; our ^
Pharsalia shall live on, and no age will ever doom us
to oblivion.

When Caesar had satisfied his eyes with venerable
antiquity, he reared in haste an altar of piled-up
sods, and uttered prayers and vows over the incense-
burning flame ; and both were fulfilled. " All ye
spirits of the dead, who inhabit the ruins of Troy ;
and ye household gods of my ancestor Aeneas, who
now dwell safe in Lavinium and Alba, and upon their
altar still shines fire from Troy ; and thou, Pallas,
famous pledge of security,* whom no male eye may
behold in thy secret shrine — lo ! I, most renowned
descendant of the race of lulus, here place incense
due upon your altars, and solemnly invoke you in
your ancient abode. Grant me prosperity to the
end, and I will restore your people : with grateful
return the Italians shall rebuild the walls of the
Phrygians, and a Roman Troy shall rise." When
he had spoken thus, Caesar went back to his ships
and spread full sails to favouring winds. The gale
drove him on, and he was eager to make up for his
delay at Troy, so that he sailed past wealthy Asia
and left Rhodes unvisited in its foaming sea. The

579

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Septima nox Zephyro numquam laxante rudentes

Ostendit Phariis Aegyptia litora flammis. 1005

Sed prius orta dies nocturnam lampada texit

Quam tutas intraret aquas. Ibi plena tumultu

Litora et incerto turbatas murmure voces

Accipit, ac dubiis veritus se credere regnis

Abstinuit tellure rates. Sed dira satelles 1010

Regis dona ferens medium provectus in aequor

CoUa gerit Magni Phario velamine tecta

Ac prius infanda commendat crimina voce :

" Terrarum domitor, Romanae maxime gentis,

Et, quod adhuc nescis, genero secure perempto, 1015

Rex tibi Pellaeus belli pelagique labores

Donat et, Emathiis quod solum defuit armis,

Exhibet. Absenti bellum civile peractum est :

Thessalicas quaerens Magnus reparare ruinas

Ense iacet nostro. Tan to te pignore, Caesar, 1020

Emimus ; hoc tecum percussum est sanguine foedus.

Accipe regna Phari nullo quaesita cruore ;

Accipe Niliaci ius gurgitis ; accipe, quidquid

Pro Magni cervice dares ; dignumque clientem

Castris crede tuis, cui tantum fata licere 1025

In generum voluere tuum. Nee vile putaris

Hoc meritum, facili nobis quod caede peractum est.

Hospes avitus erat, depulso sceptra parenti

Reddiderat. Quid plura feram ? tu nomina tanto

580

BOOK IX

West wind never slackened the cordage of the ships
until the seventh night revealed the coast of Egypt
by the flame of Pharos. But day dawned and veiled
that beacon of night before he sailed into the quiet
waters. There he found the shore filled with dis-
turbance, and heard voices that muttered in un-
certainty and confusion. Therefore he kept his
ships away from land^ fearing to trust himself to a
treacherous kingdom. But a minion of the king,
bearing his master's ghastly gift, put out into mid-
stream ; he carried the head of Magnus wrapped in
linen of Egypt, and first he tried with infamous
speech to put a fair face on foul deeds : " Conqueror
of the world and mightiest of the Roman race, you
are made safe, though you are ignorant of it as yet,
by the slaying of your son-in-law. The Macedonian
king spares you the toil of war by land and sea, and
presents you with the one thing lacking to the
victory of Pharsalia. The civil war has been won
for you without your presence ; when Magnus sought
to rebuild the fortunes ruined at Pharsalia, he was
laid low by our sword. By so dear a pledge have
we bought you, Caesar; by this blood our treaty
with you was concluded. We give you the kingdom,
to be yours without bloodshed ; we give you power
over the Nile's waters ; we give all that you yourself
would have given for Pompey's head; reckon us
then as adherents worthy of your army, because
Fortune willed that we should have such power
against your kinsman. Nor must you undervalue
our service, because we conferred it by an execution
that cost us nothing. Pompey was our friend of
old ; he had restored the throne to our king's
banished father. Need I say more? You must find

S8i

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Invenies operi, vel famam consule mundi. 1030

Si scelus est, plus te nobis debere fateris,

Quod scelus hoc non ipse facis." Sic fatus opertum

Detexit tenuitque caput. lam languida morte

Effigies habitum noti mutaverat oris.

Non primo Caesar damnavit munera visu 1035

Avertitque oculos ; voltus, dum crederet, haesit;

Utque fidem vidit sceleris tutumque putavit

lam bonus esse socer, lacrimas non sponte cadentes

Effudit gemitusque expressit pectore laeto,

Non aliter manifesta potens abscondere mentis 1040

Gaudia quam lacrimis, meritumque inmane tyranni

Destruit et generi mavolt lugere revolsum

Quam debere caput. Qui duro membra senatus

Calcarat voltu, qui sicco lumine campos

Viderat Emathios, uni tibi, Magne, negare 1045

Non audet gemitus. O sors durissima fati !

Huncine tu, Caesar, scelerato Marte petisti.

Qui tibi flendus erat? nunc^ mixti foedera tangunt

Te generis ? nunc nata iubet maerere neposque ?

Credis apud populos Pompei nomen amantes 1050

Hoc castris prodesse tuis ? Fortasse tyranni

Tangeris invidia, captique in viscera Magni

Hoc alii licuisse doles, quererisque perisse

Vindictam belli raptumque e iure superbi

Victoris generum. Quisquis te flere coegit 1066

Impetus, a vera longe pietate recessit.

^ nunc • . . nunc Hamman : non . . . nee MS8,

BOOK IX

a name for this great deed ; or else ask what the
world says of it. If crime it be, then you admit a
greater debt to us, because your own hand is not
guilty of the crime." With these words he took
off the covering from the head, and held it in his
hands. By now the features, relaxed by death, had
changed the aspect of that familiar face. When
Caesar first saw it, he did not condemn the gift nor
turn away : his eyes were fixed upon the face till
he could be sure. Then, when he saw the proof of
the crime, and thought it safe at last to be the
loving kinsman, he shed crocodile tears and forced
out groans while his heart rejoiced. By tears alone
was he able to hide his obvious delight ; and thus
he belittles the king's horrid service, preferring to
mourn the severed head of his kinsman rather than
owe obligation for it. Though he had trampled on
corpses of senators with face unmoved, and had
beheld dry-eyed the field of Pharsalia, to Magnus
alone he dares not deny the tribute of tears. Oh,
harsh decree of Fortune ! Did you, Caesar, pursue
with impious arms this man, for whom you had yet
to weep? Does the bond of kinship appeal to you
at last? Do your daughter and her child at last
bid you grieve ? Do you believe that this grief will
serve your cause among the nations who love the
name of Pompey ? Perhaps you are jealous of
Ptolemy, resenting that another had such power
against the person of Magnus, his prisoner ; and you
complain that war's vengeance has been lost, and
that your kinsman has been snatched from the
disposal of his haughty conqueror. Whatever the
impulse that forced you to weep, it was far removed
from sincere affection. Is this forsooth the purpose

583

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Scilicet hoc animo terras atque aequora lustras,
Necubi suppressus pereat gener. O bene rapta
Arbitrio mors ista tuo ! quam magna remisit
Crimina Romano tristis fortuna pudori, 1060

Quod te non passa est misereri, perfide, Magni
Viventis ! Nee non his fallere vocibus audet
Adquiritque fidem simulati fronte doloris :

" Aufer ab aspectu nostro funesta, satelles.
Regis dona tui ; peius de Caesare vestrum 1065

Quam de Pompeio meruit scelus ; unica belli
Praemia civilis, victis donare salutem,
Perdidimus. Quod si Phario germana tyranno
Non invisa foret, potuissem reddere regi
Quod meruit, fratrique tuum pro munere tali 1070

Misissem, Cleopatra, caput. Secreta quid arma
Movit et inseruit nostro sua tela labori ?
Ergo in Thessalicis Pellaeo fecimus arvis
lus gladio ? vestris quaesita licentia regnis?
Non tuleram Magnum mecum Romana regentem : 1076
Te, Ptolemaee, feram ? frustra civilibus armis
Miscuimus gentes, si qua est hoc orbe potestas
Altera quam Caesar, si tellus ulla duorum est.
Vertissem Latias a vestro litore proras :
Famae cura vetat, ne non damnasse cruentam 1080

Sed videar timuisse Pharon. Nee fallere vosmet
Credite victorem : nobis quoque tale paratum
Litoris hospitium ; ne sic mea colla gerantur,
Thessaliae fortuna facit. Maiore profecto
Quam metui poterat discrimine gessimus arma : 1086

584

f

BOOK IX

that hurries you over land and sea — that your kins-
man may not be slain in some secret corner ? Well
is it that the power to pass sentence on him was
taken from you. How deep the stain cruel Fortune
spared the honour of Rome when she would not
suffer a traitor like you to have mercy on Magnus
while he yet lived. — Yet Caesar ventured to speak
deceitful words, and sought to gain belief for the
sorrow feigned by his brow.

*' Take from my sight the ghastly gift of the king
you serve. Your crime has done more disservice to
Caesar than to Pompey : you have taken from me the
*^^ one privilege of civil war — the power of granting
life to the defeated. If the king of Egypt did not
hate his sister, I might have made a fitting return
for such a gift by sending him the head of Cleopatra.
Why did he draw the sword independently and
thrust his weapon into the conflict of Romans ? Did
I then on the field of Piiarsalia grant licence to the
Macedonian steel? Was it my object that your
rulers should do what they liked.'' Shall I, who
could not suffer Pompey to rule Rome together
with me, suffer Ptolemy as a partner.'* In vain have
I convulsed the world with civil war, if there is any
authority on earth save mine, if any land owns more
than one lord. I might have steered the Roman
prows away from your coast ; but care for my repu-
tation prevented me : it might seem that I did not
condemn bloodstained Egypt, but rather feared her.
Do not fancy that you deceive the conqueror : the
same reception on the shore was prepared for me
too, and I may thank Pharsalia that my head is not
carried like his. The risk we ran in warfare was
really greater than could be apprehended : I feared

585

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Exilium generique minas Romamque timebam :

Poena fugae Ptolemaeus erat. Sed parcimus annis

Donamusque nefas. Sciat hac pro caede tyrannus

Nil venia plus posse dari. Vos condite busto

Tanti colla ducis, sed non, ut crimina solum 1090

Vestra tegat tellus : iusto date tura sepulchre

Et placate caput cineresque in litore fusos

Colligite atque unam sparsis date manibus umam.

Sentiat adventum soceri vocesque querentis

Audiat umbra pias. Dum nobis omnia praefert, 1096

Dum vitam Phario mavolt debere clienti^

Laeta dies rapta est populis^ concordia mundo

Nostra perit. Caruere deis mea vota secundis,

Ut te conplexus positis felicibus armis

Adfectus a te veteres vitamque rogarem, 1100

Magne, tuam, dignaque satis mercede laborum

Contentus par esse tibi. Tunc pace fideli

Fecissem, ut victus posses ignoscere divis,

Fecisses, ut Roma mihi." Nee talia fatus

Invenit fletus comitem, nee turba querent! 1105

Credidit : abscondunt gemitus et pectora laeta

Fronte tegunt, hilaresque nefas spectare cruentum,

— O bona libertas — cum Caesar lugeat, audent.

586

BOOK IX

only exile, and the threats of my kinsman^ and Rome ;
but the penalty of defeat was — Ptolemy. Yet 1 spare
his youth and pardon his crime. Let your master learn
that pardon is the highest reward this shedding
of blood can earn. You must lay in the grave the
head of the great general, and not in such a way
that the earth merely hides your guilt : give incense
to fitting sepulture, ask pardon of the head, collect
the ashes strewn on the shore, and let the scattered
remains meet in a single urn. Let the dead man
be aware that his kinsman is here ; let him hear the
voice of my love and sorrow. Because he preferred
all things to me and would rather owe his life to
his Egyptian client, therefore the nations have been
deprived of a joyful day, and the world has lost our
reconciliation. My prayer found no favour with
Heaven — my prayer that I might lay down success-
ful arms and then embrace Pompey ; that I might
beg of him to love me as of old, and to go on living ;
that I might ask for myself to be his equal ; and I
should have been content with this, as a sufficient
reward for my hardships. Then, with peace and
confidence between us, I should have enabled him
to pardon Heaven for his defeat, and he would have
enabled Rome to pardon me." Thus he spoke, but
found none to share his weeping ; nor did the
hearers believe his complaint ; they hid their sorrow
and veiled their feelings with a mask of rejoicing ;
though Caesar mourns, they dare — how gracious
the privilege ! — to look with cheerful faces at that
sight of blood and crime.

5S7

BOOK X

LIBER DECIMUS

Ut primum terras Pompei colla secutus

Altigit et diras calcavit Caesar harenas,

Pugnavit fortuna ducis fatumque nocentis

Aegypti, regnum Lagi Romana sub arma

Iret, an eriperet mundo Memphiticus ensis

Victoris victique caput. Tua profuit umbra,

Magne, tui socerum rapuere a sanguine manes,

Ne populus post te Nilum Romanus amaret.

Inde Paraetoniam fertur securus in urbem

Pignore tam saevi seeleris sua signa secutam. 10

Sed fremitu volgi fasces et iura querentis

Inferri Romana suis discordia sensit

Pectora et ancipites animos, Magnumque perisse

Non sibi. Turn voltu semper celante pavorem

Intrepidus superum sedes et templa vetusti 16

Numinis antiquas Macetum testantia vires

Circumit, et nulla captus dulcedine rerum,

Non auro cultuque deum, non moenibus urbis,

Eflfbssum tumulis cupide descendit in antrum.

Illic Pellaei proles vaesana Philippi, 20

Felix praedo, iacet terrarum vindice fate

Raptus : sacratis totum spargenda per orbem

Membra viri posuere adytis ; fortuna pepercit

' I.e. Egyptian.

2 The meaning is, that Caesar's murder might, in the eyes of
the Roman people, have atoned for Pompey's murder.
'^ Alexander the Great.

BOOK X

As soon as Caesar, following Pompey*s head,
reached land and trod those fatal sands, his fortune
and the destiny of guilty Egypt contended whether
the realm of Lagiis should be conquered by Roman
arms, or the Memphian^ sword should rid the world
of the victor's head as well as of the loser's. The
shade of Magnus did service ; his ghost snatched
his kinsman from the sword, that the Roman people
might not, even after the death of Pompey, love the
Nile.^ Thence free from care Caesar moved to the
Egyptian capital, which was bound to his cause by
the pledge of such a ruthless crime. But from the
rage of the populace, who bore it ill that Roman
rods and laws should invade their own, he learned
that feeling was divided and allegiance wavering,
and that not for his gain had Magnus fallen. Then
undaunted, with looks that ever masked his fears,
he visited the temples of the gods, and the ancient
shrines of divinity which attest the former might of
Macedonia. No thing of beauty attracted him,
neither the gold and ornaments of the gods, nor
the city walls; but in eager haste he went down
into the vault hewn out for a tomb. There lies the
mad son of Macedonian Philip, that fortunate iree-
booter,^ cut off* by a death that avenged the world.
The limbs that should have been scattered over the
whole earth they laid in a hallowed shrine ; Fortune

591

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Manibus, et regni duravit ad ultima fatum.

Nam sibi libertas umquam si redderet orbem, 25

Ludibrio servatus erat, non utile mundo

Editus exemplum, terras tot posse sub uno

Esse viro. Macetum tines latebrasque suorura

Deseruit victasque patri despexit Athenas,

Perque Asiae populos fatis urguentibus actus 30

Humana cum strage ruit gladiumque per omnes

Exegit gentes ; ignotos miscuit amnes

Persarum Euphraten, Indorum sanguine Gangen :

Terrarum fatale malum fulmenque, quod omnes

Percuteret pariter populos, et sidus iniquum 35

Gentibus. Oceano classes inferre parabat

Exteriore mari. Non illi flamma nee undae

Nee sterilis Libye nee Syrticus obstitit Hammon.

Isset in occasus mundi devexa secutus

Ambissetque polos Nilumque a fonte bibisset: 40

Occurrit suprema dies, naturaque solum

Hunc potuit finem vaesano ponere regi ;

Qui secuni invidia, quo ^ totum ceperat orbem,

Abstulit imperium, nulloque herede relicto

Totius fati lacerandas praebuit urbes. 45

Sed cecidit Babylone sua Parthoque verendus.

Pro pudor ! Eoi propius timuere sarisas

Quam nunc pila timent populi. Licet usque sub Arcton

Regnemus Zephyrique domos terrasque premamus

Flagrantis post terga Noti, cedemus in ortus 60

* quo TTotLsman : qua MS8.

^ See n. to viii. 298.
592

BOOK X

spared his dead body, and the destiny of his reign
endured to the last. For if Freedom had ever made
men their own masters again, his body would have
been preserved for mockery — a man who was born
to teach this bad lesson to the world, that so many
lands may obey one lord. He left his own obscure
realm of Macedonia ; he spurned Athens which his
father had conquered ; driven by the impulse of
destiny, he rushed through the peoples of Asia,
mowing down mankind ; he drove his sword home
in the breast of every nation ; he defiled distant
rivers, the Euphrates and the Ganges, with Persian
and Indian blood ; he was a pestilence to earth, a
thunderbolt that struck all peoples alike, a comet of
disaster to mankind. He was preparing to launch
his fleets on the Ocean by way of the outer sea.
No obstacle to him was heat, or sea, or barren
Libya, or the Syrtes, or the desert. Following the
curve of the earth, he would have marched round to
the West, and gone beyond both the poles, and
drunk of the Nile at its source. But Death stood in
his way, and Nature alone was able to bring his
mad reign to this end : the power, by which he had
seized the whole world, he carried away with him
in his jealousy, and left no successor to inherit all
his greatness, but exposed the nations to be torn
asunder. He died, however, in Babylon he had
conquered ; and the Parthian feared him. Shame
is it that the peoples of the East shrank more from
contact with the phalanx^ than they shrink now
from contact with the legion. Thougii Roman rule
extends to the North and the home of the West
wind, though we oppress the lands that lie behind
the burning South wind, yet in the East we shall

593

VOL. I. U

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Arsacidum domino. Non felix Parthia Crassis
Exiguae secura fuit provincia Pellae.

lam Pelusiaco venieiis a gurgite Nili
Rex puer inbellis populi sedaverat iras,
Obside quo pacis Pellaea tutus in aula 65

Caesar erat, cum se parva Cleopatra biremi
Corrupto custode Phari laxare catenas
Intulit Emathiis ignaro Caesare tectis,
Dedecus Aegypti, Latii feralis Erinys,
Romano non casta malo. Quantum inpulit Argos 60
lliacasque domos facie Spartana nocenti,
Hesperios auxit tantum Cleopatra furores.
Terruit ilia suo, si fas, Capitolia sistro
Et Romana petit inbelli signa Canopo
Caesare captivo Pharios ductura triumphos ; 65

Leucadioque fuit dubius sub gurgite casus,
An mundum ne nostra quidem matroua teneret.
Hoc animi nox ilia dedit, quae prima cubili
Miscuit incestam ducibus Ptolemaida nostris.
Quis tibi vaesani veniam non donet amoris, 70

Antoni, durum cum Caesarls hauserit ignis
Pectus ? et in media rabie medioque furore
Et Pompeianis habitata manibus aula
Sanguine Thessalicae clad is perfusus adulter
Admisit Venerem curis, et miscuit armis 75

fnlicitosque toros et non ex coniuge partus.
Pro pudor ! oblitus Magrii tibi, lulia, fratres
Obscaena de matre dedit, partesque fugatas

^ I.e. Alexander.

^ I.e. of Macedonia under Alexander ; see note to v. 60.
« Helen.

* The rattle {sistrum) was regularly used in the worship of
Isis by the Egyptians.
' At Actium.

594

BOOK X

yield precedence to the lord of the Parthians.^
Parthia, that brought doom on the Crassij was a
mere peaceful province of little Pella.^

And now the boy-king came from the Pelusian
mouth of the Nile^ and allayed the discontent of his
unwarlike people ; and, with him as a hostage for
peace, Caesar was safe in the Macedonian court.
But then Cleopatra, having bribed the guards to
undo the chain across the harbour of Pharos,
sailed in a small two-banked ship and entered the
Macedonian palace without Caesar's knowledge —
Cleopatra, the shame of Egypt, the fatal Fury of
Latium, whose unchastity cost Rome dear. As the
dangerous beauty of the Spartan queen ^ overthrew
Argos and Troy town, in like measure Cleopatra
fanned the frenzy of Italy. Her rattle* terrified
the Capitol — can such things be? — she hurled un-
warlike Canopus against Roman warriors, hoping to
head an Egyptian triumph and lead a Caesar
captive ; and by the waters of Leucas ^ it was a
question whether the world should be ruled by a
woman who was not even a Roman. Her insolence
was due to that night which first brought the
wanton daughter of the Ptolemies to the arms of
a Roman general. Who can refuse pardon to the
infatuation of Antony, when even the stubborn heart
of Caesar took fire .'* Even in the midst of his rage
and fury, in that palace haunted by Pompey's ghost,
while yet drenched with the blood of Pharsalia, he
suffered adulterous love to mingle with his anxieties,
and combined with war unlawful wedlock and
spurious offspring. Shame on him ! Forgetting
Pompey, he gave Julia brothers by an abominable
mother ; he suffered the defeated party to rally in

595

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Passus in extremis Libyae coalescere regnis
Tempora Niliaco turpis dependit amori^ 80

Dum donare Pharon^ diim non sibi vincere mavolt.
Quem formae confisa suae Cleopatra sine ullis
Tristis adit lacrimis, simulatum compta dolorem
Qua decuitj veluti laceros dispersa capillos,
Et sic orsa loqui : "Si qua est, o maxime Caesar, 86
Nobilitas, Pharii proles clarissima I^agi,
Exul, in aeternum sceptris depulsa paternis,
Ni tua restituit veteri me dextera fato,
Conplector regina pedes. Tu gentibus aequura
Sidus ades nostris. Non urbes prima tenebo 90

Femina Niliacas : nuUo discrimine sexus
Reginam scit ferre Pharos. Lege summa perempti
Verba patris, qui iura mihi communia regni
Et tlialamos cum fratre dedit. Puer ipse sororem,
Sit modo liber, amat ; sed habet sub iure Pothiui 95
Adfectus ensesque sues. Nil ipsa paterni
luris inire peto : culpa tantoque pudore
Solve domum, remove funesta satellitis arma
Et regem regnare iube. Quantosne tumores
Mente gerit famulus I Magni cervice revolsa 100

lam tibi — sed procul hoc avertant fata — minatur.
Sat fuit indignum, Caesar, mundoque tibique
Pompeium facinus meritumque fuisse Pothini."
Nequiquam duras temptasset Caesaris aures :
Voltus adest precibus faciesque incesta perorat. 105

^ I.e. Cleopatra. * Potliinus.

BOOK X

the remote realms of Libya ; and he spent his time
upon a shameful intrigue in Egypt, because he
would rather give the country to another^ than
conquer it for himself. Trusting in her beauty,
Cleopatra approached him, in sorrow but not in
tears : she had decked out her feigned grief, and
her hair, as far as became her, was disordered, as
if she had torn it; and tims she began: "Mighty
Caesar, if birth counts for aught, I am the noble
daughter of Lagus, king of Egypt ; but I have been
driven from my father's throne and shall be an exile
for ever, unless your right hand restores me to my
former destiny ; and therefore I, a queen, embrace
your feet. Ap[)ear as a benign star and assist our
nation. I shall not be the first woman to rule the
cities of the Nile : Egypt is accustomed to put up
with a queen and make no distinction of sex. Read
the last words of my dead father : he gave me an
equal share of the royal power with my brother,
and married me to him. The boy himself loves his
sister, if only he were free ; but his feelings and his
soldiers are alike controlled by Pothinus. I do not
myself ask to be admitted to any share of my
father's power ; I beg you only to free our house
from such guilt and shame ; destroy the dangerous
strength of the favourite,^ and bid the king be a
king indeed. What pride the menial cherislies in
his heart ! Having severed the head of Magnus, he
now threatens you ; but may fate turn this danger
far from you I It was indignity enough for you,
Caesar, and for mankind, that a Pothinus gained
credit for the murder of a Pompey."

Vain would have been lier appeal to the stern ear
of Caesar; but her face supported her petition, and

597

VOL. I U 2 '^^'

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Exigit infandam corrupto iudice noctem.

Pax ubi parta ducis donisque iii^entibus empta est,

Excepere epulae tantarum gaudia reriim,

Explicuitque suos magno Cleopatra tumuitu

Nondum translates Romaiia in saecula luxiis. 110

Ipse locus templi, quod vix corruptior aetas

Extruat, instar erat ; laqueataque tecta ferebant

Divitias, crassumque trabes absconderat aurum.

Nee summis crustata domus sectisque nitebat

Marmoribus, stabatque sibi non segnis achates 115

Purpureusque lapis^ totaque eff'usus in aula

Calcabatur onyx ; hebenus Meroitica^ vastos

Non operit postes, sed stat pro robore vili,

Auxilium non forma domus. Ebur atria vestit,

Et suffecta manu foribus testudinis Jndae 120

Terga sedent, crebro maculas distincta zmaragdo.

Fulget gemma toris, et iaspide fulva supellex

Stat mensas onerans, variaque triclinia vestc ^

Strata micant, Tyrio cuius pars maxima fuco

Cocta diu virus non uno duxit aeno.

Pars auro plumata nitet, pars ignea cocco, 125

Ut mos est Phariis miscendi licia telis.

Tum famulae numerus turbae populusque minister.

Discolor hos sanguis, alios distinxerat aetas ;

Haec Li by cos, pars tarn flavos gerit altera crines,

Ut nullis Caesar Rheni se dicat in arvis 130

Tam rutilas vidisse comas ; pars sanguinis usti

Torta ca})ut refugosque gerens a fronte caj)illos ;

^ ^Mcroitica Sahnasius : Mareotica MSS.
* Inserted by llousman.

^ A corrupt age would not be able to spare the money from
its own pleasures to build such a temple.

* "Leashes" were used in weaving, in order to separate the
threads of the warp.

BOOK X

her wicked beauty gained lier suit. Her judge was
bribed, and slie spent the whole night in infamy.
When Caesar's favour was gained and bought by
mighty gifts, so joyful an event was followed by a
feast; great was the bustle, as Cleopatra displayed
her magnificence — magnificence which Roman society
had not yet adopted. The place itself was the size
of a temple, such a temple as a corrupt age^ would
hardly rear; the panels of the ceiling displayed
wealth, and the rafters were hidden beneath a thick
coating of gold. The walls shone with marble ; nor
were tiiey merely overlaid with a thin surface of it ;
and agate stood there on its own account, no useless
ornament, and porphyry. Alabaster was laid all
over the hall to tread on ; and the ebony of Meroe,
no mere covering for the great doors, took the place
of common wood — a support and no mere decoration
of the dwelling. Ivory clothed the entrance-hall;
and Indian tortoise-shell, artificially coloured, was
inlaid upon the doors, and its spots were adorned
with many an emerald. Jewels glittered on the
couches ; the cups, tawny with jasper, loaded the
tables, and the sofas were bright with coverlets of
divers colours — most had long been steeped in Tyrian
dye and took their hue from repeated soakings,
while others were embroidered with bright gold, and
others blazed with scarlet, as the Eg3'ptian manner
is of mingling leashes'^ in the web. There was also
a swarm of attendants, and a multitude to serve the
banqueters, differing from one another in race or
age. Some had the hair of Africa, and others were
so fair-headed that Caesar said he had never seen
hair so red in the Rhine country ; some had dark
skins and woolly heads, with hair receding from the

599

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Nee non infelix ferro mollita iuventus

Atque exsecta virum : stat contra fortior aetas

Vix ulla fuscante tamen lanugine malas. 135

Discubuere illic reges maiorque potestas,
Caesar; at inmodice formam fucata nocentem.
Nee sceptris contenta suis nee fratre niarito,
Plena maris rubri spoliis, colloque comisque
Divitias Cleopatra gerit cultuque laborat. 140

Candida Sidonio perliicent pectora filo,
Quod Nilotis acus conpressum pectine Serum
Solvit et extenso laxavit stamina velo.
Dentibus hie niveis sectos Atlantide silva
Inposuere orbes, quales ad Caesaris ora 14C

Nee capto venere luba. Pro caecus et amens
Ambitione furor, civilia bella gerenti
Divitias aperire suas, incendere nientem
Hospitis armati. Non sit licet ille nefando
Marte paratus opes mundi quaesisse ruina ; 15C

Pone duces priscos et nomina pauperis aevi,
Fabricios Curiosque graves, hie ille recumbat
Sordidus Etruscis abductus consul aratris :
Optabit patriae talem duxisse triumphum.

Infudere epulas auro, quod terra, quod aer, 155

Quod pelagus Nilusque dedit, quod luxus inani
Ambitione furens toto quaesivit in orbe
Non mandante fame ; multas volucresque ferasque
Aegypti posuere deos, manibusque ministrat

Pearls. * Made of citrus- wood : see n. to ix. 427.

* Cincinnatus.

6oo

BOOK X

forehead. There too were hapless boys who had
lost their manhood by the knife ; and opposite them
stood youths, whose cheeks, in spite of their age,
were scarce darkened by any down.

There the sovereigns sat down, and with them
Caesar, greater than they. Cleopatra, not content
with a crown of her own and her brother for husband,
was there, with her baleful beauty painted up
beyond all measure : covered with the spoils of the
Red Sea,i gi^^ carried a fortune round her neck and
in her hair, and was weighed down by her ornaments.
Her white breasts were revealed by the fiibric of
Sidon, which, close-woven by the shuttle of the
Seres, the Egyptian needle- worker pulls out, and
loosens the thread by stretching the stuff. Then
tiiey placed upon snowy tusks round tables ^ cut in
Moorish forests, such tables as Caesar did not see
even after he conquered Juba. What blindness,
what madness for display, to reveal their wealth to
the general in a civil war, and to kindle the avarice
of a guest in arms ! ILven if it were not Caesar, in his
impious warfare greedy to get wealth by the havoc
of a world — place here the ancient leaders whose
names adorn an age of poverty, a Fabricius and stern
Curius ; or let the consul, summoned unwashed from
his plough ^ in Etruria, take his place at this table,
and he will pray to celebrate for his country a
triumph as splendid.

They served on gold a banquet of every dainty
that earth or air, the sea or the Nile affords, all that
extravagance, unspurred by hunger and maddened
by idle love of display, has sought out over all the
earth. Many birds and beasts were served that are
divine in Egypt ; crystal ewers supplied Nile water

6oi

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Niliacas crystallos aquas, gemmaeque capaces 160

Excepere merum, sed iion Mareotidos uvae,

Nobile sed paucis senium cui contulit annis

Indomitum Meroe cogens spumare Falernum.

Accipiunt sertas nardo florente coronas

Et numquam fugiente rosa, multumque madenti 165

Infudere comae quod nondum evanuit aura

Cinnamon externa nee perdidit aera terrae,

Advectumque recens vicinae messis amomon.

Discit opes Caesar spoliati perdere mundi,

Et gessisse pudet genero cum j)aupere helium, 170

Et causas Martis Phariis cum gentibus optat.

Postquam epulis Bacchoque modum lassata voluptas
Inposuit, longis Caesar producere noctem
Incboat adloquiis, summaque in sede iacentem
Linigerum placidis conpellat Acorea dictis: 175

"O sacris devote senex, quodque arguit aetas,
Non neglecte deis, Phariae primordia gentis
Terrarumque situs volgique edissere mores
Et ritus formasque deum ; quodcumque vetustis
Insculptum est adytis profer, noscique volentes 180

Prode deos. Si Cecropium sua sacra Platona
Maiores docuere tui, quis dignior umquam
Hoc fuit auditu mundique capacior hospes ?
Fama quidem generi Pharias me duxit ad urbes,
Sed tamen et vestri ; media inter proelia semper 186
Stellarum caelique plagis superisque vacavi,

6o2

BOOK X

for tlieir hands ; the wine was poured into great
jewelled goblets — no wine of Egy})tian grapes, but
generous Falernian, to which Meroe brings ripeness
in a few years^ forcing its stubborn nature to ferment.
They put on wreaths, twined of blooming nard and
ever-flowering roses; they drenched their hair with
cinnamon, which had not yet grown faint from
foreign air nor lost the scent it had at home, and
with cardamom, plucked not far away and freshly
imported. Caesar learns to squander the wealth of
a plundered world ; he is ashamed to have made
war ai^ainst one so poor as Pompey, and desires a
pretext for war with the Egyptians.

When sated enjoyment set a limit to feasting and
wine, Caesar began to prolong the night with
discourse long drawn out; and thus he accosted in
friendly speech aged Acoreus, who lay, dressed in
his linen robe, upon the highest seat. " Sir, devoted
as you are to the service of heaven, and, as your age
proves, not unprotected by the gods, expound to me
the origins of the Egyptian nation, the features of the
land, the manners of the common peo})le, your forms
of worship, and the shapes of your gods ; reveal all
that is engraved upon your ancient shrines, and
disclose your gods who are willing that they should
be known. If your ancestors taught their religion to
Plato the Athenian, was ever guest of yours more
worthy than I to hear these things, was ever a mind
more able to contain the world's secrets ? It is true
that the report concerning my kinsman brought me
to your cities ; but your fame attracted me too : in
the midst of war I ever found time to study the
world above us and the starry and celestial zones ;
and the Julian year shall not be outdone by the

603

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Nee mens Eudoxi vincetur fastibus annus.

Sed, cum tanta meo vivat sub pectore virtus,

Tantus amor veri, nihil est, quod noscere malim

Quam fluvii causas per saecula tanta latentes 190

Ignotumque caput : spes sit mihi certa videndi

Niliacos fontes, bellum civile relinquam."

Finierat, contraque sacer sic orsus Acoreus :

" Fas mihi magnorum, Caesar, secreta parentum
Prodere ad hoc aevi populis ignota profanis. 195

Sit pietas aliis, miracula tanta silere ;
Ast ego caelicolis gratum reor, ire per omnes
Hoc opus et sacras populis notescere leges.
Sideribus, quae sola fugam moderantur Olympi
Occurruntque polo, diversa potentia prima 200

Mundi lege data est. Sol tempora dividit aevi,
Mutat nocte diem, radiisque potentibus astra
Ire vetat cursusque vagos statione moratur ;
Luna suis vicibus Tethyn terrenaque miscet ;
Frigida Saturno glacies et zona nivalis 205

Cessit; habet ventos incertaque fulmina Mavors;
Sub love temperies et numquam turbidus aer ;
At fecunda Venus cunctarum semina rerum
Possidet ; iinnensae Cyllenius arbiter undae est.
Hunc ubi pars caeli tenuit, qua mixta Leonis 210

Sidera sunt Cancro, rapidos qua Sirius ignes
Exerit et varii mutator circulus anni
Aegoceron Cnncrumque tenet, cui subdita Nili
Ora latent, quae cum dominus percussit aquarum

* The Julian calendar came into use on Jan. 1,45 B.C. Eudoxus,
a Greek astronomer, lived about .36(5 r..C.

* For ihe following passage, see Housman, pp. 334 foil. ; the
translation here given is taken from him.

604

BOOK X

calendar of Eudoxus.* But, though such intellectual
vigour and love of truth flourish in my breast, yet
there is nothing I would rather learn than the causes,
concealed through such long ages, that account for
the Nile, and the secret of its source. Give me an
assured hope to set eyes on the springs of the river,
and I will abandon civil war." He ended his speech,
and thus the holy priest, Acoreus, began his reply :

"To me, Caesar, it is permitted to disclose the
secrets of our great ancestors — secrets hitherto
unknown to the herd. Let others think it pious to
conceal such great marvels ; but I believe it the will
of heaven that this fabric of theirs should be
published abroad and that all mankind should learn
their sacred laws. The primal ordinance of the
universe assigned different powers to those stars
which alone rule the rapid movement of the sky, and
move in opposition to the heavens. The sun divides
time into periods, and changes day for night; and
the power of his rays forbids the planets to go
forward, and delays their wanderings with stationary
periods. The changes of the moon bring sea and
land in contact. To Saturn has been assigned
freezing ice in the snowy zone ; Mars is lord of the
winds and of thunder that has no fixed season ; under
the rule of Jupiter is temperate climate and air that
is always bright ; fruitful Venus is mistress of the
seeds of all things that exist; and Mercury controls
the vast element of water.^ When Mercury has
reached that part of the sky where Leo and Cancer
are in contact, where Sirius blazes forth and where
lies the circle which changes the year and contains
Capricorn and Cancer, whereunder are the hidden
founts of the Nile ; and when the ruler of the

60s

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Igne superiecto, tunc Nilus fonte soluto, 216

Exit ut oceanus lunaribus incrementis,
lussus adest, auctusque suos non ante coartat,
Quam nox aestivas a sole receperit horas.

" Vana fides veterum, Nilo, quod crescat in arva,
Aethiopuni prodesse nives. Non Arctos in illis 220

Montibus aut Boreas. Testis tibi sole perusti
Ipse color poi)uli calidique vaporibus Austri.
Adde, quod omne caput fluvii, quodcumque soluta
Praecipitat glacies^ ingresso vere tumescit
Prima tabe nivis : Nilus neque suscitat undas 226

Ante Canis radios nee ripis alligat amnem
Ante parem nocti Libra sub iudice IMioebum.
Inde etiam leges aliaruni nescit aquaruni,
Nee tumet hibernus, cum longe sole remote
Olficiis caret unda suis : dare iussus iniquo 2

Temperiem caelo mediis aestatibus exit
Sub torrente plaga, neu terras dissipet ignis,
Nilus adest mundo contraque incensa Leopis
Ora tumet Cancroque suam torrente Sycnen
Inploratus adest, nee campos liberat undis, 235

Donee in auctumnum declinet Phoebus et umbras
Extendat Meroe. Quis causas reddere possit?
Sic iussit natura parens discurrere Nilum,
Sic opus est mundo. Zepli\'ros quoque vana vetustas

^ At the autumnal equinox.
6o6

I

BOOK X

element of water has shone down vertically on
these — then the source of the river is opened, and,
as the Ocean is lifted up by the waxing moon, so the
Nile answers the bidding, and does not narrow his
flood again until night has got back from day the
hours it lost in summer.

" The ancients erred when they believed that the
Nile is helped to overflow the fields by the snows in
Ethiopia. For there is no North star nor North
wind in those mountains. The mere colour of the
Ethiopians, who are blackened by the sun, and their
hot scorching winds, may convince you of this.
Moreover, every river-head which is set running by
the melting of ice begins to rise at tiie coming of
spring, when the snow first tliaws ; but the Nile does
not arouse its water before the siiining of the Dog-
star, nor confine its stream within the banks until
the day becomes equal to the night,^ with Libra as
arbitress. Hence also tiie Nile knows not the laws
that govern other rivers : it does not rise in winter,
when the sun is far away and the waters have no
function to discharge ; but, having orders to mitigate
an oppressive climate, he issues forth in the torrid
zone at midsummer ; and, in order that fire may not
dissolve the earth, Nile comes to help the world,
rising against the burning mouth of Leo, and answer-
ing the prayer of Syene, when its lord. Cancer, is
consuming it ; nor does he free the plains from his
waters, until tiie sun slopes down towards autumn and
Meroe casts a shadow. Who can explain the reasons?
Mother Nature ordained that the Nile should over-
flow thus, and the world requires that so it should
be. — The ancients were wrong again, when they
accounted for this inundation by West winds which

607

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

His ascripsit aquis, quorum stata tempora flatus 240

Continuique dies et in aera longa potestas,

Vel quod ab occiduo depellunt nubila caelo

Trans Noton et fluvio cogunt incumbere nimbos,

Vel quod aquas totiens rumpentis litora Nili

Adsiduo feriunt coguntque resistere fluctu : 245

Ille mora cursus adversique obice ponti

Aestuat in campos. Sunt qui spiramina terris

Esse putent magnosque cavae conpagis hiatus.

Commeat hac penitus tacitis discursibus unda

Frigore ab Arctoo medium revocata sub axem, 250

Cum Phoebus pressit Meroen tell usque perusta

Illuc duxit aquas ; trahitur Gangesque Padusque

Per tacitum mundi : tunc omnia flumina Nilus

Uno fonte vomens non uno gurgite perfert.

Rumor ab Oceano, qui terras alligat omnes, 255

Exundante procul violentum erumpere Nilum

Aequoreosque sales longo mitescere tractu.

Nee non Oceano pasci Phoebumque polosque

Credimus : hunc, calidi tetigit cum braccln'a Cancri,

Sol rapit, atque undae plus quam quod digerat aer 260

Tollitur; hoc noctes referunt Niloque j)rorundunt.

Ast ego, si tantam ius est milii solvere litem,

Quasdam, Caesar, aquas post mundi sera peracti

Saecula concussis terrarum erumpere venis

Non id agente deo, quasdam conpage sub ipsa 265

^ The '* Etesian " winds are meant, though these actually blow
from the N. W.

2 Of which the Nile is one.

6o8

BOOK X

blow day after day at a fixed season,^ and whose
empire over the air lasts long. These winds were
supposed to work in one of two ways : either they
drive the clouds down from the western sky across
the South and force the rain to descend on the Nile ;
or else, when the river breaks the shore with so
many mouths, they strike it and bring it to a halt by
the steady pressure of the sea; and thus the stream
overHows the fields, because its course is hindered
and a barrier interposed by the sea. Some think
that there are air-passages in the earth, and great
fissures in its hollow frame. In these, far below
the surface, water travels and moves to and fro
invisibly, and is summoned from the cold North to
the Equator, whenever the sun is directly above
Meroe and the parched earth attracts water thither ;
the (janges and the Po are thus conveyed through
a hidden region of the world ; and then the Nile,
discharging all rivers from a single source, carries
them by many mouths to the sea. There is a
tale that the Nile bursts forth from the distant flood
of Ocean which bounds every land, and that the
brine grows fresh owing to the long distance it
travels. Further, we believe that the sun and sky
are fed by the Ocean ; the sun, when he has reached
the claws of fiery Cancer, sucks up the Ocean, and
more water is raised than the air can digest ; and
this overplus the nights repay and pour down upon
the Nile. But I myself, if I have the right to decide
so great a dispute, hold this opinion, Caesar : certain
waters, long after the world was created, burst forth
in consequence of earthquakes, with no special
purpose on the part of the deity ; but certain others,^
at the very formation of the world, had their

609

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Cum toto coepisse reor, quas ille creator
Atque opifex rerum certo sub iure coercet.

''Quae tibi noscendi Nilum, Romane, cupido est,
Et Phariis Persisque fuit Mncetumque tyrannis,
Nullaque non aetas voluit conferre futuris 270

Notitiam ; sed vincit ad hue natura latendi.
Summus Alexander reguni, quern Memphis adorat,
Invidit Nilo, misitque per ultima terrae
Aethiopum lectos : illos rubicunda perustl
Zona poli tenuit ; Nilum videre calentem. 276

Venit ad occasus mundique extrema Sesostris
Et Pharios currus regum cervicibus egit :
Ante tamen vestros amnes, Rhodanumque Padumque,
Quam Nilum de fonte bibit. Vaesanus in ortus
Cambyses longi populos pervenit ad aevi, 280

Defectusque epulis et pastus caede suorum
Ignoto te, Nile, redit. Non fabula mendax
Ausa loqui de fonte tuo est. Ubicumque videris,
Quaereris, et nulli contingit gloria genti,
Ut Nilo sit laeta suo. Tua flumina prodam, 286

Qua deus undarum celator, Nile, tuarum
Te mihi nosse dedit. Medio consurgis ab axe ;
Ausus in ardentem ripas attollere Cancrum
In Borean is rectus aquis mediumque Booten
(Cursus in occasus flexu torquetur et ortus, 290

Nunc Arabum populis, Libycis nunc aequus harenis),
Teque vident primi, quaerunt tamen hi quoque. Seres,

^ The Macrobii, a mythical tribe of Ethiopians, whose average
time of life was 120 years.

^ The river " favours" a nation when a concave bend in his
course adds to their territory.

6io

BOOK X

beginning along with the universe ; and the latter
the creator and artificer of all things restrains under
a law of their own.

" Your desire, Roman, to explore the Nile was
felt by the kings of Egypt and Persia and Macedon ;
and every generation has wished to enrich posterity
with this knowledge, but has been defeated up till
now by its native power of concealment. Alexander,
greatest of kings, was jealous of the Nile which
Memphis worships, and he sent chosen explorers
through the utmost parts of Ethiopia ; but they
were stopped by the blazing zone of parched sky ;
they but saw the Nile steaming with heat. Sesostris
made his way to the West and to the limits of the
world, and drove his Egyptian chariot with kings
under the yoke ; but he drank of your rivers, the
Rhone and the Po, before he drank from the sources
of the Nile. The madman Cambyses penetrated the
East as far as the land of the long-lived people ; ^
food ran short, and he had to feed on his own men ;
but he returned with no knowledge of the Nile.
Even lying legend has not ventured to tell of its
sources. Wherever the river is seen, it is a puzzle
to men ; and no nation can boast that it takes pride
in the Nile as its own possession. But 1 will
expound its course, in so far as the deity who con-
ceals its stream has granted me knowledge of it. —
The Nile rises at the Equator, boldly raising his
channel in the face of burning Cancer ; and his
waters proceed due North towards the centre of
Bootes ; yet his current bends and twists towards
West and East, at one time favouring ^ the peoples
of Arabia, at another the sands of Libya. The first
nation to behold him are the Seres, but they also

6n

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Aetbiopumque feris alieno gurgite campos,

Et te terrarum nescit cui debeat orbis.

Arcanum natura caput non prodidit ulli, 295

Nee lieuit populis parvum te, Nile, videre,

Amovitque sinus et gentes maluit ortus

Mirari quam nosse tuos. Consurgere in ipsis

lus tibi solstitiis, aliena crescere bruma

Atque hiemes adferre tuas, solique vagari 300

Concessum per utrosque polos. Hie quaeritur ortus,

Illic finis aquae. Late tibi gurgite rupto

Ambitur nigris Meroe fecunda colon is

Laeta comis hebeni, quae, quamvis arbore multa

Frondeat, aestatem nulla sibi mitigat umbra : 305

Linea tam rectum mundi f'erit ilia Leonem.

Inde plagas Plioebi damnum non passus aquarum

Praeveheris sterilesque diu metiris harenas,

Nunc omnes unum vires collectus in amnem.

Nunc vagus et spargens faeilem tibi cedere ripam. 310

llursus multifidas revocat piger alveus undas,

Qua dirimunt Arabum populis Aegyptia rura

Regni claustra Pliilae. Mox te deserta secantem,

Qua iungunt^ nostrum rubro commercia ponto,

Mollis lapsus agit. Quis te tam lene fluentem 316

Moturum totas violenti gurgitis iras,

Nile, putet ? sed cum lapsus abru[)ta viarum

Excepere tuos et praecipites cataractae

1 iungunt Oudendurp: dirimunt {from 312) AJSS.

^ The Northern and Southern hemispheres.

* I.e. the constellation Leo is vertically above that spot.

' I.e. the torrid zone.

6l2

BOOK X

have no certain knowledge of him ; with foreign
waters he strikes the plains of the Ethiopians, and
the globe knows not to whom it is indebted for him.
Nature has revealed to none his hidden source, nor
has it been permitted to mankind to see the strip-
ling Nile ; she has concealed his hiding-places,
preferring that the nations should marvel at them
rather than know them. He is privileged to rise
at midsummer, to be flooded by a winter out of
season, and to bring with him a rainy season of his
own ; and he alone is permitted to stray through
both hemispheres.^ In one hemisphere his source
is unknown, in the other his final goal. His waters
part widely to surround Meroe — Meroe fertile for
the black race that till her soil, and rich in the
foliage of the ebony-tree ; but, though she has leaves
on many a tree, she has no shade to temper the
summer heat, because a line drawn from that spot
to the sky strikes Leo vertically.^ Next he moves
past the realm of Phoebus^ with no loss of volume,
and long traverses barren sands, at one time with
all his wealth of water gathered into a single stream,
at another straying from his course and scattering
the bank that readily gives way to his pressure.
Then once more his many separate streams are
recalled by the sluggish channel where Philae, the
gate of the Egyptian kingdom, divides the fields
of Egypt from the peoples of Arabia. Later, as he
cleaves the desert where commerce unites our sea
with the Red Sea, a gentle flow leads him on.
Who could believe that the river which here runs
so smoothly could ever rouse the whole fury of his
turbulent stream ? Yet, when his flow comes to a
broken channel and headlong cataracts, and when

613

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Ac nusquam vetitis ullas obsistere cautes

Indignaris aquis, spuma tunc astra lacessis ; 320

Cuncta fremunt undis, ac multo murmure montis

Spiimeus invitis canescit fluctibus amnis.

Hinc, Abaton quani nostra vocat veneranda vetustas,

jTerra potensf ^ primes sentit percussa tumultus,

Et scopuli, placuit fluvii quos dicere venas, 325

Quod manifesta novi primum dant signa tumoris.

Flinc montes natura vagis circumdedit undis.

Qui Libyae te, Nile, negent ; quos inter in alta

It convalle tacens iam moribus unda receptis.

Prima tibi campos permittit apertaque Memphis 'S.))

Rura modumque vetat crescendi ponere ripas."

Sic velut in tuta securi pace trahebant
Noctis iter mediae. Sed non vaesana Pothini
Mens inbuta semel sacra iam caede vacabat
A scelerum motu : Magno nihil ille perempto 335

Jam putat esse nefas ; habitant sub pectore manes,
Ultricesque deae dant in nova monstra furorem.
Dignatur viles isto quoque sanguine dextras,
Quo Fortuna parat victos perfundere patres,
Poenaque civilis belli, vindicta senatus, 34(

Paene data est famulo. Procul hoc avertite, fata,
Crimen, ut haec Bruto cervix absente secetur.
In scelus it Pharium Romani' poena tyranni,
Exemplumque perit. Struit audax inrita fatis

^ The obelized words are corrupt ; and no satisfactory cmendatio
has been suggested.

1 I.e. ** untrodden," because sacred. ^ The Furies.

? When Caesar was stabbed and murdered in the Senate.

* If Caesar is killed in Egypt, the deed merely increases th(
guilt of Egypt in killing Pompey ; and the warning to al
tyrants, which the dagger of Brutus gave on the Ides of March
44 B.C., is thereby lost.

614

BOOK X

he resents that any cliffs should bar the stream that
found free passage everywhere, then he challenges
the stars with his spray, the region roars with his
waves, the cliff rumbles loudly, and the river
whitens with foam under the constraint of his flood.
Next comes the island which our hallowed tradition
calls Abatos ; ^ it is smitten first and first feels the
uproar. Here too are the rocks wliich are commonly
called the springs of the river, because they give
the first clear indication when the water begins to
rise. From this point Nature has surrounded the
wandering stream with mountains, which rob Libya
of the Nile ; and between the mountains the river
flows, tamed now and silent, through a deep valley.
Memphis first offers plains and open country for it
to spread over, and forbids the channel to set a
limit to its expansion."

Thus midnight went by, and they spent the time
without fear, as if in peace and safety. But the
frenzied bosom of Pothinus, once stained with
sacrilegious murder, was never again free from
guilty excitement : after the slaughter of xMagnus
he no longer counts any deed a crime ; his breast
is haunted by the ghost of his victim, and the
avenging goddesses ^ madden him to commit fresh
horrors. Once again he as})ires to shed blood by
base-born hands — that blood with which Fortune
intended to drench the defeated Senators ; ^ and
the vengeance of the Senate, that penalty for civil
war, was almost permitted to a menial hand. Ye
destinies, banish far this wrong, that Caesar's head
should fall and Brutus not be there ! Thus the
punishment of the Roman tyrant goes to swell the
guilt of Egypt, and the warning is lost.* With bold-

615

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Nee parat occultae caedem committere fraudi
Invictumque dueem detecto Marte lacessit.
Tantum animi delicta dabant, ut colla ferire
Caesaris et socerum iungi tibi, Magne, iuberet ;
Atque haee dicta monet famulos perferre fideles
Ad Pompeianae sociura sibi caedis Achillam,
Quern puer inbellis cunctis praefecerat armis
Et dederat ferrum, nuUo sibi lure retento.
In cunctos in seque simul. ^' Tu mollibus" inquit
" Nunc incumbe toris et pingues exige somnos :
Invasit Cleopatra domum ; nee prodita tantum est
Sed donata Pharos. Cessas accurrere solus
Ad dominae thalamos ? nubit soror inpia fratri.
Nam Latio iam nupta duci est, interque maritos
Discurrens Aegypton habet Romamque meretur.
Expugnare senem potuit Cleopatra venenis :
Crede, miser, puero, quem nox si iunxerit una
Et semel amplexus incesto pectore passus
Hauserit obscaenum titulo pietatis amorem,
Meque tuumque caput per singula forsitan illi
Oscula donabit. Crucibus flammisque luemus.
Si fuerit formonsa soror. Nil undique restat
Auxilii : rex bine coniunx, hinc Caesar adulter.
Et sumus, ut fatear, tam saeva iudice sontes :

* I.e. betrayed by Cleopatra to Caesar, and then given away
by Caesar to Cleopatra, who had only a disputed right to share
the throne.

616

BOOK X

ness Pothinus lays a plot doomed to failure : not
trying to entrust the murder to secret guile, he
attacks the unconquered leader with open war.
His evil deeds emboldened him to decree that
Caesar's head should be struck off, and that the fate
of Magnus should be shared by his father-in-law ;
and he bade his faithful henchmen carry this
message to Achillas, his partner in Pompey's
murder. The unwarlike boy-king, reserving no
authority for himself, had set Achillas over all his
forces, and given him the sword to use against all,
the king himself included. " Is this the time,"
said Pothinus, " to lie soft upon your bed and sleep
sound and long, when Cleopatra has seized the
palace, and Egypt has been not merely betrayed
but given away.f* ^ Do you alone hang back, when
all others hasten to the bed of the princess ? The
wicked sister is marrying her brother — the Roman
general she has married already; hastening from
one husband to another, she possesses Egypt and
is playing the harlot for Rome. She was able to
conquer the older man's heart by drugs ; if you
put your trust in the boy, I pity you. If a single
night brings them together, if he once submits to
her embraces with incestuous heart and drinks in
unlawful passion on pretence of natural affection,
then he will grant her your head and mine, each
perhaps in return for a kiss. We shall pay the
penalty on the gallows or at the stake, if she prove
beautiful in her brother's sight. No refuge remains
for us in any quarter : the royal husband threatens
us on one side, and the paramour Caesar on the
other. And indeed, to confess the truth, guilty
we are at the bar of so cruel a judge ; Cleopatra

617

VOL. I. -jf

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Quem non e nobis credit Cleopatra nocentem^

A quo casta fuit ? per te quod fecimus una 370

Perdidimusque nefas perque ictum sanguine Magni

Foedus, ades ; subito bellum molire tumultu,

Inrue ; nocturnas rumpamus funere taedas

Crudelemque toris dominam mactemus in ipsis

Cum quocumque viro. Nee nos deterreat ausis 375

Hesperii fortuna ducis, quae sustulit ilium

Inposuitque orbi : communis gloria nobis,

Nos quoque sublimes Magnus facit. Aspice litus,

Spem nostri sceleris ; pollutos consule fluctus

Quid liceat nobis, tumulumque e pulvere parvo 380

Aspice Pompei non omnia membra tegentem.

Quem metuis, par huius erat. Non sanguine clari,

— Quid refert ? — nee opes populorum et regna

movemus :
Ad scelus ingentis fati sumus. Attrahit illos
In nostras fortuna manus : en altera venit 385

Victima nobilior. Placemus caede secunda
Hesperias gentes : iugulus mihi Caesaris haustus
Hoc praestare potest, Pompei caede nocentes
Ut populus Romanus amet. Quid nomina tanta
Horremus viresque ducis, quibus ille relictis 390

Miles erit ? Nox haec peraget civilia bella
Inferiasque dabit populis et mittet ad umbras
Quod debetur adhuc mundo caput. Ite feroces
Caesaris in iugulum ; praestet Lagea iuventus

^ Because Caesar is not grateful for it.
" The head is not there, • Italy.

6i8

i

BOOK X

considers every man of us guilty, if he has not
defiled her. By the crime which we committed
together and committed in vain/ by our alliance
sealed with the blood of Magnus, I charge you
to come forward ; stir up war with sudden uproar,
attack with speed. While it is night, let us break
off marriage by death and slay our cruel mistress
in her very bed, be her bedfellow who he may.
Nor should we be frightened from the attempt by
the lucky star which has lifted up the Roman
general and set him over the world : we share
his distinction, and the death of Magnus exalts
us also. Look at yonder shore, which gives us
confidence for evil ; ask the bloodstained sea what
power we have ; look at Pompey's grave, made
out of a handful of dust and not covering all his
body.^ The man you dread was Pompey's peer.
Our blood is not noble — what matters that ? — and
we do not control kingdoms or the power of nations ;
but for crime fate has given us immense capacity.
Fortune draws these great men within our grasp ;
see ! another and a nobler victim is here. By a
second murder let us make our peace with the
Western nation : ^ to take Caesar's life can do me
this service — the Roman people will love those who
are guilty of Pompey's murder. Why dread we the
great name of Caesar, and his army ? Now that he
has left it behind, we shall find him only a soldier
like other soldiers. This night shall end the civil
war ; it shall make funeral offerings for mankind,
and send down to the shades that head which the
world still claims as its due. Go forth, all of you,
bravely against Caesar's life ; let the Egyptian
soldiers thus serve their king, and let the Romans

619

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Hoc re<^i, Romana sibi. Tu parce morari. 395

Plenum epulis madidumque mero Venerique paratum

Invenies ; aude, super! tot vota Catonum

Brutorumque tibi tribuent." Non lentus Achillas

Suadenti parere nefas baud clara movendis,

Ut mos, signa dedit castris nee prodidit arma 400

UUius clangore tubae : temere omnia saevi

Instrumenta rapit belli. Pars maxima turbae

Plebis erat Latiae ; sed tanta oblivio mentes

Cepit in externos corrupt© milite mores,

Ut duce sub famulo iussuque satellitis irent, 406

Quos erat indignum Phario parere tyranno.

Nulla fides pietasque viris qui castra secuntur,

Venalesque manus : ibi fas, ubi proxima merces ;

Aere merent parvo iugulumque in Caesaris ire

Non sibi dant. Pro fas ! ubi non civilia bella 410

Invenit imperii fatum miserabile nostri?

Thessaliae subducta acies in litore Nili

More furit patrio. Quid plus te, Magne, recepto

Ausa foret Lagea domus ? dat scilicet omnis

Dextera quod debet superis, nullique vacare 415

Fas est Romano. Latium sic scindere corpus

Dis placitum ; non in soceri generique favorem

Discedunt populi ; civilia bella satelles

Movit, et in partem Romani venit Achillas ;

Et nisi fata manus a sanguine Caesaris arcent, 420

Hae Vincent partes. Aderat maturus uterque,

1 These were Roman soldiers serving in the Egyptian army.
620

BOOK X

serve themselves. Lose no time, Achillas. You will
find him sated with feasting, drunken with wine, and
ripe for amorous dalliance ; be bold, and Heaven
will vouchsafe to you what a Cato and a Brutus
have so often prayed for." Achillas was not slow
to obey the call to crime. He gave the order, but
without the customary noise, for the soldiers to
march, and no blare of the trumpet betrayed the
movement ; in haste he assembled all the equip-
ment of cruel war. Most of the men belonged to
the populace of Rome ^ ; but they were degenerate
and denationalised, and such forgetfulness had
mastered their minds, that those who should have
scouted the command of an Egyptian king served
under his slave and at the bidding of a henchman.
Men who follow the camp have no loyalty, no sense
of duty : their swords are for sale ; the cause that
offers immediate reward is the good cause ; serving
for scanty pay, they attack Caesar's life to gratify
others. Oh, law divine ! Where does the hapless
destiny of our empire fail to find civil war .'' Kept
away from Pharsalia, the soldiers are distracted on
the banks of the Nile with the frenzy of their
nation. What more could the house of Lagus have
dared, if it had harboured Magnus .'' The truth is
that every hand pays its debt to the gods, and no
Roman is permitted by them to stand idle. It has
pleased the gods to split up thus the body of Rome :
the great nations are not divided in favour of Caesar
or his son-in-law ; but a mere henchman has stirred
up civil war, and Achillas has usurped the part of a
Roman; and, unless fate averts their hands from
Caesar's blood, their side will win. Each of the
pair was quickly on the spot; the palace, busied

621

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Et districta epulis ad cunctas aula patebat
InsidiaSj poteratque cruor per regia fundi
Pocula Caesareus mensaeque incumbere cervix.
Sed metuunt belli trepidos in nocte tumultus, 425

Ne caedes confusa manu permissaque fatis
Te, Ptolemaee, trahat. Tanta est fiducia ferri,
Non rapuere nefas ; summi contempta facultas
Est operis ; visum famulis reparabile damnum
Illam mactandi dimittere Caesaris horam. 430

Servatur poenas in aperta luce daturus ;
Donata est nox una duci, vixitque Pothini
Munere Phoebeos Caesar dilatus in ortus.
Lucifer a Casia prospexit rupe diemque
Misit in Aegyptum primo quoque sole calentem, 435
Cum procul a muris acies non sparsa maniplis
Nee vaga conspicitur, sed iustos qualis ad liostes
Recta fronte venit : passuri comminus arma
Laturique ruunt. At Caesar moenibus urbis
Diffisus foribus clausae se protegit aulae 440

Degeneres passus latebras. Nee tota vacabat
Regia conpresso : minima collegerat arma
Parte domus. Tangunt animos iraeque metusque,
Et timet incursus indignaturque timere.
Sic fremit in parvis fera nobilis abdita claustris 445

Et frangit rabidos praemorso carcere dentes,
Nee secus in Siculis fureret tua flamma cavernis,
Obstrueret summam si quis tibi, Mulciber, Aetnam.
622

BOOK X

with the banquet, was open to every treachery ;
and it was possible that the blood of Caesar might
be shed over the king's drinking-cups, and his head
fall upon the table. But the conspirators feared
the haste and confusion of war by night ; bloodshed,
carried on with disorder and left to chance, might
take off Ptolemy as well. Such was their reliance
on their swords, that they did not hurry on the
crime; they despised the easiness of their great
design ; to let slip that chance of slaying Caesar
seemed to these slaves a loss they could soon make
good. So he was spared, to suffer in the light of
day ; a single night was granted him ; and Caesar,
thanks to Pothinus, gained a respite from death till
sunrise.

The morning- star looked forth from Mount Casius
and sent the daylight over Egypt, where even
sunrise is hot ; and then, at a distance from the
walls, an army was seen — not stragglers with dis-
orderly ranks, but such a force as marches with level
front against a foe worthy of their steel : on they
charge, ready to endure and to wage close combat.
Caesar, on his part, distrusted the city walls and
defended himself by closing the gates of the palace,
thus submitting to an unworthy hiding-place.
Hemmed in as he was, the whole palace was not at
his disposal : he had gathered his forces in one
corner of it. His pride was touched by rage and
fear — fear of attack, and wrath at his own fear.
Thus some noble beast, penned in a narrow cage,
roars and bites the bars till he breaks his furious
teetii ; and even so, if any hand were to seal up the
summit of Etna, the fire of Vulcan would rage in the
craters of Sicily. Not long ago, beneath the height

623

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Audax Thessalici nuper qui rupe sub Haemi

Hesperiae cunctos proceres aciemque senatus 450

Pompeiumque ducem causa sperare vetante

Non timuit fatumque sibi promisit iniquum,

Expavit servile nefas, intraque penates

Obruitur telis. Quern non violasset Alanus,

Non Scytha, non fixo qui ludit in hospite Maurus, 466

Hie, cui Romani spatium non sufficit orbis,

Parvaque regna putet Tyriis cum Gadibus Indos,

Ceu puer inbellis, ceu captis femina muris,

Quaerit tuta domus ; spem vitae in limine clauso

Ponit, et incefto lustrat vagus atria cursu, 460

Non sine rege tamen^ quem ducit in omnia secum^

Sumpturus poenas et grata piacula morti

Missurusque tuum, si non sint tela nee ignes.

In famulos, Ptolemaee, caput. Sic barbara Colchis

Creditur ultorem metuens regnique fugaeque 465

Ense suo fratrisque simul cervice parata

Expectasse patrem. Cogunt tamen ultima rerum

Spem pacis temptare ducem, missusque satelles

Regius, ut saevos absentis voce tyranni

Corriperet famulos, quo bellum auctore moverent. 470

Sed neque ius mundi valuit nee foedera sancta

Gentibus, orator regis pacisque sequester

Quin caderel ferro. Quamquam quis t alia fact a^

Aestimat in numero scelerum ponenda tuorum,

1 Inserted by Housman.

* Medea.
624

BOOK X

of Mount Haemus in Thessaly, Caesar had boldly
defied all the magnates of Rome, and the Senate in
battle array under the leadership of Pompey ; and,
though the badness of his cause was adverse to his
hopes, yet he was sanguine of undeserved success.
But now he dreaded the wickedness of slaves, and
crouched within walls while missiles rained upon him.
Alanians, or Scythians, or Moors who mock the
stranger by fixing him as a target for their arrows
would have done Caesar no harm ; yet he, for whom
the whole Roman world is too small, who would not
be satisfied to rule at once India and Phoenician
Gades, seeks safety within a house, like a defenceless
child or a woman when her city is taken ; he relies
for his life upon a closed door ; he hastes from room
to room, wandering in uncertainty. Yet he has the
king for companion and takes him everywhere with
him : he means to get satisfaction from Ptolemy and
consolation, if he himself must die ; and, if missiles
and firebrands are lacking, he will hurl against the
slaves the head of their king. So, we are told, the
foreign woman ^ from Colchis, fearing vengeance for
her treason and her flight, waited her father's coming
with her sword in one hand and her brother's head
in the other. Yet Caesar was forced by his desperate
plight to explore the possibility of peace ; and a
courtier was sent, to rebuke the warlike slaves in a
message from their absent king, and to ask who
gave them leave to fight. But the law of nations
was of no avail, nor could the rights respected by all
peoples preserve the king's ambassador, the mediator
of peace, from falling by the sword. Yet who con-
siders such a deed worthy to find a place in the list
of Egypt's crimes, that land guilty of so many

625

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Tot monstris Aegypte nocens ? Non Thessala tellus
Vastaque regna lubae, non Pontus et inpia signa 476
Pharnacis et gelido circumfluus orbis Hibero
Tantum ausus scelerum, non Syrtis barbara, quantum
Deliciae fecere tuae. Premit undique bellum,
Inque domum iam tela cadunt quassantque penates.
Non aries uno moturus limina pulsu 480

Fracturusque domum, non ulla est machina belli,
Nee flammis mandatur opus ; sed caeca iuventus
Consilii vastos ambit divisa penates,
Et nusquam totis incursat viribus agmen.
Fata vetant, murique vicem Fortuna tuetur, 485

Nee non et ratibus temptatur regia, qua se
Protulit in medios audaci margine fluctus
Luxuriosa domus. Sed adest defensor ubique
Caesar et hos adilus gladiis, hos ignibus arcet,
Obsessusque gerit — tanta est constantia mentis— 490
Expugnantis opus. Piceo iubet unguine tinctas
Lampadas inmitti iunctis in vela carinis ;
Nee piger ignis erat per stuppea vincula perque
Manantes cera tabulas, et tempore eodem
Transtraque nautarum summique arsere ceruchi. 495
lam prope semustae merguntur in aequora classes,
lamque hostes et tela natant. Nee puppibus ignis
Incubuit solis ; sed quae vicina fuere
Tecta mari, longis rapuere vaporibus ignem,
Et cladem fovere Noti, percussaque flamma 600

Turbine non alio motu per tecta cucurrit
Quam solet aetherio lampas decurrere sulco

^ Pharnaces had rebelled against his father, Mithradates.

* Spain.

^ See n. to iii. 684.

626

BOOK X

atrocities? Neither the land of Thessaly, nor the
barren realm of Juba, nor Pontus with the unnatural ^
warfare of Pharnaces, nor the region ^ round which
cold Hiberus flows, nor the savage Syrtis — no country
has ventured on such crimes as Egypt, with all her
luxury, has committed. War besets Caesar on every
side ; already missiles are falling upon the palace
and battering the dwelling. The besiegers have no
ram to shatter the gates and break open the building
with one blow, and no engines of war ; nor do they
trust fire to do their work ; but with no plan they
split up into parties and surround the vast circuit of
the walls ; and at no point does the host attack in
full strength. Fate is against them, and Fortune
performs the office of a wall.

They assailed the palace also by means of ships,
at the point where the splendid pile projected with
bold frontage right over the water. But Caesar was
present everywhere in defence, driving back some
attacks with the sword and others with fire ; and
such was his courage, that while besieged he did the
work of a besieger. He ordered brands steeped in
resin to be hurled at the sails of the crowded ships ;
and the fire coursed swiftly along the ropes of tow
and the decks running with wax,^ till the rowers'
benches and the towering yards blazed up together.
Soon the ships, almost half-consumed, sank beneath
the surface, and soon the assailants and their weapons
were swamped. Nor did the fire fall upon the
vessels only : the houses near the sea caught fire
from the spreading heat, and the winds fanned the
conflagration, till the flames, smitten by the eddying
gale, rushed over the roofs as fast as the meteors
that often trace a furrow through the sky, though

627

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Materiaque carens atque ardens acre solo.

Ilia lues paulum clausa revocavit ab aula

Urbis in auxilium populos. Nee tempora cladis 606

Perdidit in somnos, sed caeca nocte carinis

Insiluit Caesar semper feliciter usus

Praecipiti cursu bellorum, et tempore rapto

Nunc claustrum pelagi cepit Pharon. Insula quondam

In medio stetit ilia mari sub tempore vatis 610

Proteos, at nunc est Pellaeis proxima muris.

Ilia duci geminos bellorum praestitit usus.

Abstulit excursus et fauces aequoris hosti

Caesar et auxiliis ut vidit libera ponti

Ostia, non fatum meriti poenasque Pothini 615

Distulit ulterius. Sed non, qua debuit, ira,

Non cruce, non flammis rapuit, non dente ferarum ; 617

Magni morte perit. Nee non subrepta paratis 619

A famulo Ganymede dolis pervenit ad hostes 620

Caesaris Arsinoe ; quae castra carentia rege

Ut proles Lagea tenet, famulumque tyranni

Terribilem iusto transegit Achillea ferro.

Altera, Magne, tuis iam victima mittitur umbris ;

Nee satis hoc Fortuna putat. Procul absit, ut ista 525

Vindictae sit summa tuae. Non ipse tyrannus

Sufficit in poenas, non omnis regia Lagi:

Dum patrii veniant in viscera Caesaris enses,

Magnus inultus erit. Sed non auctore furoris

Sublato cecidit rabies ; nam rursus in arma 630

Auspiciis Ganymedis eunt ac multa secundo

Proelia Marte gerunt. Potuit discrimine summo

^ It had been brought close by means of an artificial mole.
Proteus appears in Homer's Odyssey iv. 365 f,
■ A younger sister of Cleopatra.

62S

BOOK X

they have nothing solid to feed on and burn by
means oi air alone. This calamity for a time called
off the crowd from the close-barred palace to rescue
tlie city. Caesar did not waste in slumber the time
granted by the fire, but sprang on board ship in the
darkness of night. He had ever made successful
use of haste in warfare, and now with all speed he
seized Pharos, which gives access to the sea. Once,
in the time of the seer Proteus, it was an island out
at sea, but now it stands close to the walls of
Alexandria.^ To Caesar it was doubly useful in his
warfare. For, when he had prevented the enemy
from sailing out to sea by the narrow passage and
saw the harbour open for reinforcements, he post-
poned no longer the punishment of death which
Pothinus had so richly earned. But Caesar's wrath
did not destroy him by fitting means — the gallows,
or the stake, or the teeth of wild beasts : he died
the death of Magnus. Moreover, Arsinoe ^ was
carried off secretly by a trick of Ganymede, her
chamberlain, and conveyed to Caesar's enemies.
There, as a daughter of Lagus, she ruled the army
in the absence of the king and pierced with righteous
sword Achillas, the dreadful instrument of Ptolemy.
Thus a second victim was offered to the shade of
Magnus; but Fortune is not content with this.
Perish the thought that his vengeance should end
here ! Ptolemy himself and all the house of Lagus
are not enough to quit the score : until the swords
of his own countrymen pierce the heart of Caesar,
Magnus will remain unavenged. But the madness
did not cease with the death of its originator : again,
led by Ganymede, the people rush to arms and are
often victorious in battle. Because of Caesar's utmost

629

M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS

Caesaris una dies in famam et saecula mitti.
Molis in exiguae spatio stipantibus armis,
Dum parat in vacuas Martem transferre carinas, 635
Dux Latius tota subitus formidine belli
Cingitur : hinc densae praetexunt litora classes,
Hinc tergo insultant pedites. Via nulla salutis,
Non fuga, non virtus ; vix spes quoque mortis honestae.
Non acie fusa nee magnae stragis acervis 640

Vincendus tunc Caesar erat sed sanguine nullo.
Captus sorte loci pendet ; dubiusque ^ timeret
Optaretne mori, respexit in agmine denso
Scaevam perpetuae meritum iam nomina famae
Ad campos, Epidarane, tuos, ubi solus apertis 546

Obsedit muris calcantem moenia Magnum.

^ dubiusque OrotiiLs : dubiusne MSS.

1 The other name of Dyrrachium : cf. vi. 140 foil. It is
remarkable that Scaeva survived his injuries.

' The ending is clearly abrupt : we are not even told how
Caesar was affected by the sight of Scaeva ; but we can guess.

630

BOOK X

danger, a single day might have become for ever
famous.

Round him stood his soldiers in the narrow space
of the mole ; and he was preparing to embark his
men on the empty ships, when he was suddenly
surrounded by all the tearfulness of war : on one
side the shore was lined with close-packed ships ; on
the other, the infantry assaulted his rear. There
was no path of safety either in flight or in valour ; he
could scarcely hope even for an honourable death.
To conquer Caesar then, no rout of an army and no
heaps of dead were needed, nor any bloodshed at
all. Made helpless by the nature of his position, he
stood perplexed ; and, even as he doubted whether
to fear death or pray for it, he saw Scaeva in the
serried ranks, that Scaeva who had already won
immortal glory on the plains of Epidamnus ; ^ for
there, when the walls were breached and Magnus
trod the ramparts underfoot, Scaeva single-handed
beleaguered Magnus.'**

631

INDEX

(Some names which recur very oiten, such as Caesar, Tuppiter, Magnus,
Mars, Pompeius, Roma, are not included.)

ABATOS : an island in the Nile : x. 323
Absvrtos : a river in Illyricum : iii.

190
Abydos: ii. 674; vi. 65
Acheron : iii. 16
Achillas : viii. 538, etc.
Achillea: vi.350
Acoreus : viii. 475; x. 175, 193
Aeas : a river in Epirus : vi. 361
Aegae : a town in Oilicia : iii. 227
Aegoceros : Capricorn, a sign of the

Zodiac: ix. 537; x. 213
A^yptos : ii. 417, etc.
Aeneas : ix. 991
Aeolidae : vi. 384
Aetna: i. 43, 545; v. 99; vi. 295;

X. 448
Afranius, L. : iv. 4, 338
Agave: i. 574; vi. 359; vii. 780
Alani: a Scythian tribe: viii. 223;

X. 454
Alba: i. 198; iii. 87; v. 400; ix. 992
Albis : the Elbe : i. 481 ; ii. 52
Alexander the Great : ix. 154 ; x, 20,

272
Allia: vii. 409
Almo : i. 600
Aloeos : vi. 410
Alpes : i. 183, etc.
Alpheus : a river in Elis : iii. 177
Amanus : a mountain in Oilicia :

iii. 244
Amasis : ix. 155

Ampbissa : a city in Phocis : iii. 172
Amphrysos : a river in Thessaly :

vi. 368
Amyclas : v. 620

Anauros : a river in Thessaly : vi. 370
Anchises : ix. 971
Ancon : a city in Ficenom : ii. 402
Anio : i. 682

Antaeus : ii. 164 ; iv. 590, etc.
Antonius, M., the orator : ii. 122
Antonius, M., the triumvir : v. 478 ;

X. 71
Antonius, 0., brother of the triumvir :

iv. 408
Anxur : iii. 84
Apidanoa: a river in Thessaly: ri.

373
Apis : viii. 479
Aponus : a spring at Patavium : vii.

193
Appenninus : ii. 396
Appius : V. 68, etc.
Aquarius : a sign of the Zodiac : i.

653
Arar: a river in Gaul: i. 434; vi. 467
Araxes : a river in Armenia : i. 19 ;

vii. 188 ; viii. 431
Areas : ix. 661

Arctophylax : Bootes : viii. 180
Argo: ii. 717; iii. 193
Argos : vi. 356 ; vii. 452 ; x. 60
Aricia : vi. 75
Arimaspi : a Scythian tribe : iii. 281 ;

vii. 756
Ariminum : i. 231
Axisbe : a town in Troas : iii. 204
Armenia : ii. 639
Arruns : i. 58G, etc.
Arsacides : Parthian king : viii. 218
Arsinoe : x. 521

Arverni : a tribe in Aquitania : i. 427
Asia : ii. 674, etc.
Asina : vii. 195
Asopos : vi. 374
Assaracus : ix. 967
Astraea : ix. 535
Astures : a Spanish tribe : iv. 8
Atax : a river in Gaul : i. 403
Athamanes : a tribe in Bpiros : iii. 188

633

INDEX

A^thenae : iii. 181 ; v. 52 ; z. 29

Mhos : ii. 677

Mlantis : v. 4

Atlas : i. 555; iv. 672; ix 655

Aturu3 : a river in Aquitania : i. 420

Aufidus : a river in Apulia : ii. 407

Aulis : V. 236

Ausonidae : ix. 999

Autololes : a tribe in Mauretania : iv.

677
Auximon : a city in Picenum : ii. 466
Ayemus : a lake in Campania : ii. 668

Babylon: i. 10; vi. 449; viii. 225;

X. 46
Bacchae : v. 74
Bactra : viii. 299, 423
Baebius : ii. 119
Ba^tis : ii. 589

Bagrada : a river in Africa : iv. 588
Bardi : i. 449
Basilus : iv. 416
Batavi : i. 431
Belgae : i. 426
Bellona : i. 565 ; vii. 568
Berenicis: a district near Oyrene:

ix. 524
Bessi : a Thracian tribe : v. 441
Bistones : Thracians : vii. 569
Bituriges : a tribe in Aquitania : i. 423
Boebeis : a lake in Thessaly : vii. 176
Bootes: ii. 722; iii. 252; x. 289
Bosporos : v. 436 ; viii. 178
Briareus : iv. 596
Britanni: ii. 572; iii. 78; iv. 134;

vi. 68
Bromius : v. 73 ; viii. 801
BruDdisium : ii. 609 ; v. 374, 407
Brutus, Decimus : Caesar's admiral :

iii. 514, etc.
Brutus, L. Junius : the first consul at

Rome : vi. 792 ; vii. 39
Brutus, M. Junius : murderer of

Caesar : ii. 243, etc.
Byzantion : ix. 958

Cadmus : iii. 189 ; iv. 549

Oaicufl : a river in Mysia : iii. 203

Caelpe: i. 555; iv. 71

Oalydoh : a town in Aetolia : vl. 866

Oambyses : x. 280

Camillns: i. 168; ii. 644; v. 28;

vi. 786; vii. 358
Cancer: a sign of the Zodiac: iv.

627, etc.

Candavia : a district of Illvricum :

vi. 331
Cannae : ii. 46; vii. 408, 800
Canopos : a star : viii. 181
Canopos : a city in Egypt : viii. 643 ;

X. 64
Cantaber : vi. 259
Cappadoces: ii. 592; iii. 244; vii.

225, 541
Carbo, Papirius : i . 548
Carrhae : i. 105
Carystos : v. 232
Caspia claustra : viii. 222, 291
Cassius : vii. 451
Catilina : ii. 541 ; vi. 793 ; vii. 64
Oato the Censor : vii. 790
Cato the younger : i. 128, etc.
Catulus, Q. Lutatius : ii. 174
Caudinae Purcao : ii. 138
Cayci : a German tribe : i. 463
Cebennae : i. 435
Oelaenae : iii. 206
Oeltae : iv. 10
Cephisos : iii. 175
Ceraunia : mountains in Epirus :

ii. 626; V. 457
Cerberus : vi. 665 ; ix. 643
Cethegus : ii. 543
Chalcedon : ix. 959
Chalcis: ii. 710; v. 227
Charybdis: i. 547; iv. 461
Chios : viii. 195
Chiron : vi. 393 ; ix. 536
Choatrae : a Scythian tribe : iii. 246
Cicero : vii. 63
Cilix : iii. 228, etc.
Cinga : a river in Spain : i. 432 ; iv. 21
Cinna : ii. 546 ; iv. 822
Cirrha : iii. 172 ; v. 137
Cleopatra : ix. 1071 ; x. 56. etc.
Colchis: Medea: vi. 441; x. 464
Colophon ; viii. 245
Cone : iii. 200
Cora: vii. 392

Corcyra : ii. 623 ; viii. 37 ; ix. 33
Corfinium : ii. 478 ; iv. 697
Cornelia : ii. 349, etc.
Corvinus : vii. 684
Cotta: iii. 143
Cotys : V. 64

Orassus : the triumvir : 1. 11, eta
Orastinus : vii. 471
Croesus : iii. 272
Crustumium : a river in Umbria :

406

634

INDEX

Onrictae : iv. 406

Ourio : i. 269 ; iv. 584, etc.

Ourius • i. 169 ; vi. 787 ; vii. 368

Oybebe: i. 600

Oydones : vii. 229

Cynosura : iii. 219; viii. 180; ix. 540

Dypros : iii. 164, etc.

C^Tenae : ix. 297, 874

C^rus : iii. 285 ; viii. 226

C^hera : ix. 37

Daci: a Scythian people: ii 51;

iii. 95; viii. 424
Dabae : a Scythian people : ii. 296 ;

vii. 429
Damascos : iii. 215
Danae : ix. 659

Decius : ii. 308 ; vi. 785 ; vii. 359
Deiotarus: v. 55; viii. 210
Delos : vi. 425

Diana : i. 446 ; iii. 86 ; vi. 74
Dipsus : vii. 255
Dirce : iii. 175
Dodona: iii. 441; vi. 427
Dolopes : vi. 384
Domitius, L., Ahenobarbus : ii. 479;

vii. 220; 600, 607,
Dorion : vi. 352
Drusi : vi. 795
Dryadae : i. 451
Dryopes : a Thessalian people : iii.

179
Dyrrachium : vi. 14

Echinades : vi. 364

Edonis : i. 675

Emathia : vi. 332, eto.

Enceladus : vi. 294

Encheliae : iii. 189

Enipeus : vi. 373 ; vii. 116

Epheso3 : viii. 244

Ephyre : vi. 57

Erichtho : vi. 508, etc.

Eridanua : ii. 409

Eryi: ii. 666

Esus : i. 445

Eudoxus : x. 187

Euhenos : a river in Aetolia : vi. 366

Euripus : v. 235

Fabricius : iii. 160
Figulua : i. 639
Fimbria : ii. 124

Qabii: vii. 393

Gades : iii. 279, etc.

Gaetuli : a Numidian tribe : iv. 678

Galatae : vii. 540

Galli: i. 567

Ganges : ii. 496 ; iii. 230

Ganymedes : x. 520

Garamantes : an African tribe : iv.

334
Garganus : v. 380 ; ix. 184
Gaurua : ii. 667
Gaza : iii. 216

Geloni : a Scythian tribe : iii. 283
Genusus : v. 462

Getae : a Thracian tribe : ii. 54, 296
Guidos : viii. 247
Gnoses : iii. 185
Gorgon : ix. 658, etc.
Gortyna : iii. 186
Gracchi : i. 267 ; vi. 796
Gradivus : Mars : i. 660

Haemonides : vi. 436

Haemus : i. 680, etc.

Halys: iii. 272

Hammon : ix. 514, etc.

Ilaimibal : 1.305; iv. 790; viii. 286

Hapsua : a river in Illyricum : v. 462

Hecate: vi. 700, 737

Helice : the Great Bear : ii. 237

Helle : iv. 57 ; ix. 956

Heniochi : a Sarmatian people : ii.

691; iii. 270
Hercea ara : ix. 979
Hercules: viii. 800
Hermus : a river in Lydia : ill. 210
Hesioiie : ix. 970
Hiberus : the Ebro : iv. 23, etc.
Hister : the Danube : ii. 50, etc.
Hortensius : ii. 328
Hybla : ix. 291
Hydaspes ; iii. 236
Hydrus : v. 375
Hyrcania : iii. 268

lader : iv. 405
lanus : 1. 62 ; v. 6
Icaria : viii. 244
Idaiis : iii. 204
Idume: iii. 216
Ilerda : iv. 13, eto.
Inarime : v. 101
India : vii. 428
lolcos : iii. 192
lonos : vi. 402
Isara : i. 399

633

INDEX

Isaunis : ii. 406

Isis: viii.SJJl; ix. 158

Jsthmos : i. 101

Ityraei : a Syrian people : vii. 514

luba : iv. 670, etc.

lugurtha: ii. 90; ix. 600

lulia: i. 113; iii. 10, 27; viii. 104;

X. 77
lulus : iii. 21S
luno : i. 676

Karthago: ii. 92, etc.

Labienus : v. 346 ; ix. 550, 5G6

Lacinium : ii. 434

Lagua : v. 62, etc.

Lapithes : a Thessalian tribe : vi. 399

Larisa : vii. 712

Laurentum : vii. 394

Leleges: vi. 383

Lemannus : i. 396

Lentulus, P. Cornelius : T. 16 ; vii.

218; viii. 328
I/epidi : vii. 583
Leptis : ix. 524
Lesbos : v. 725, etc.
Lethe : vi. 769
Lethon : ix. 355
Leucas: i. 43; vii. 872
Libo, L. Scribonius : ii. 462
Libra : a sign of the Zodiac : iv.

58, etc.
Liburni : a people of lUyncum : Iv.

530
Libys : vi. 221
Ligur : i. 442
Liiyhaeum : iv. 583
Lingones : i. 398
Liris : u. 424
Luca : i. 586
Lyaeus : i. 676
Lycurgus : i. 676

Macetae : ii. 647, etc.

Macra : ii. 426

Maeander : vi. 475

Maenala : iii. 177

Maeotis : iii. 277

Magnetes : a Thessalian tribe : vi. S85

Malea : vi. 68 : ix. 36

Mallos : iii. 227

Marcellus : i. 318

Marcia : ii. 328

Marica : ii. 424

Marius: i. 683; ii. 70, etc

Marmaridae : iv. 680

Marsi : ii. 430

Marsya : a river in Phrygia : iii. 207

Massasetae : a Scythian people : ii

50; iii. 283
Massilia : iii. 308, etc.
Ma=isyli : a Numidian people : iv. 683
Matinus : ix. 185
Mauri : i. 210, etc.
Mazaces: a Moorish people: iv. 681
Medea : iv. 556
Medi: iv. 681, etc.
Medusa : ix. 620, etc.
Megaera : i. 577 ; vi. 730
Melas : a Thessalian river : vi. 374
Meliboea : vi. 354
Memphis : i. 640, etc.
Meroe : an island in the Nile : iv. 333,

etc.
Metaurus : ii. 405
Metellus: iii. 114, etc.
Mile: i. 323; ii. 480
Mimas : vii. 450
Minvae : vi. 385
Mithradates : i. 336 ; ii. 681
Monoecus : i. 408
Monychus : vi. 388
Moschi : a Scvthian tribe : iii. 270
Munda : i. 40 ; vi. 30G : vii. 692
Mut.ina: i. 41: vii. 872
Mycenae : i. 644

Nar: 1.476

Nasamones : an African tribe : iv

679, etc.
Nemetes : a German tribe : i. 419
Neptunus : iv. Ill
Nero: i. 33

Nervii : a Gallic tribe : i. 429
Ne«is : vi. 90
Nessus : vi. 365
Kinos: iii. 215
Niphates : iii 245
Numa : vii. 396 ; ix. 478
Numidae : iv. 677, etc.
Nympbaeum : v. 720
Nysa : i. 66

Octavius : iv. 433
Oenone : ix. 973
Get' : iii. 178; vii. 449
Opi ergini : iv. 462
Or fites : vii. 778
Orontes: iii. 214; vi 51
Osiris : viii. 833 ; ix. 15

I

636

INDEX

Othry

389: vi. 348
Ti. 338

Pachynum : vii. 871

Pactolos : iii. 210

Padus : iv. 134, etc.

Pallem^ : vii. 150

Pannonicua : iii. 95

Paraetonia : x. 9

Parnasos : iii. 173; v. 72, 78, 131

Parrhasis : ii. 237

Parttiia: vii. 431

Peiion: vi. 336, 41]

PeUa: x. 52

Peloras: ii. 438; vi. 66

Peneus: iii. 191; vi. 372

PentheuB : vii. 780

Peivama : ix. 969

Perseplione : vi. 700

Perees : iii. 158

Perusia : i. 41

Petra : vi. 16, 70

Petreius M. : iv. 6, 144

Peuce : iii. 202

Phaethon : ii. 413

Pharnaces: ii. 637; x. 476

Piiaro8 : viii. 564, etc.

Pharaalia : i. 38, etc.

Pharealos : vi. 350

Phaselis : viii. 251

Phasis: ii. -^85, eto.

Phemonoe : v. 126

Philae; x. 313

Philippi: 1.680, etc

Phlegra: vii. 145

Phocis, i.e., Phocaea : v. 63

PLoebas : v. 128

Phoeaices : iii. 220

Pboeuix : a Thessalian river : vi. 874

Pholoe: iii. 198; vi. 388

Pholus : vi. 391

Phorcys • ix. 646

Piiryt^es : ix. 999

Phvlace : vi. 352

Pindas: i. 764; vii. 174

Pis le : ii. 401

Pitaue: iii. 205

Plato: X. 181

PompeiuB, On. : Pompey's elder son :

ix. 121, 145
Pompeius, Sextus : Pomp y's younger

son : vi. 570; viii. 633
Pontus : ii. 639, etc.
Portus Sacri : ii. 134
Pothinus : viii. 483, etc.

Propontis: ix. 960
Proteus * x. 511
Psylli: ix. 893
Pteieos : vi. 352
Ptolemaeus : v. 59. etc
Pyrene : i. 689
PyrrhuB : i. 30
Pytho : V. 134

Quirinus : i. 197
Quirites : v. 358

R amnus : v. 233

Rhascypolis: v. 55

Ehenus : i. 371, etc.

Rijodanus : i. 433, etc.

Ehodope : vii. 450

Bbodos: v 51; viii. 248; ix. 1003

Ehoecus : vi. 390

Rhoetion : ix. 963

Rubicon : i. 185 : ii. 498

Ruteni : a tribe n Aquitania : i. 402

Ratuba : a river in Liguria : ii. 422

Sabinae: i. 118

Sabbura : iv. 722

Sadala : v. 54

Saguntum : vi. 350

Salamis: Iii. 183

Sa erniun : ii. 425

Salonae : iv. 404

Salpina palus : v. 377

Samoa viii. 246

Santoni : a tribe in Aquitania : i. 422

Sapis : a river in Ganl : ii. 406

Sarmatae : i. 430 ; iii, 94

Sarnus : ii. 424

ason : ii. 627
Satumus : the planet : i. 652 ; x. 205
Scaeva : vi. 144, etc. ; x. 544
Scaevola : ii. 126

Scipio Africanus : iv. 658 ; vi. 788
Scipio Metellus : ii. 473, etc.
t-cytiia : x. 455
Seiinus : viii. 260

Selloe a people of Epirus : iii. jao
Sena : a river in Umbria ; U -^^
Senones : i. 254
Septimius : viii. 597
Sequani : i. 425
Seres : i, 19 : x. 142
Sertorius : ii. 649 ; vii. 16 ; viii. 809
Sesto* : ii. 674 ; vi. 56
Sesostris : x. 276
Sibylla : v. 138

637

INDEX

Sicania : Sicily : vi. 66

SicoriB : a river in Spain : iv. 14, etc.

Sidon : iii. 217

Siler : a river in Lucania : ii. 426

Simois : ix. 962

Sipus : V. 377

Sophene : a district in Armenia :

ii. 593
Spartacus : ii. 554
Spercheos : a river in Thessaly : vi.

367
Stoechades : iii. 516
Strymon : iii. 199 ; v. 711
Styx: vi. 698; vii. 786
Suebi : a German tribe : ii. 51
Suessones : a tribe in Gaul : i. 423
Sulla : i. 326 ; ii. 118, etc.
Susa : ii. 49 ; viii. 425
Syene : ii. 587 ; viii. 851 ; x. 234
Syhedra: viii. 259
Symplegas : ii. 718
Syria: iii. 214; viii. 169
Syrtes : i. 499, etc.

Taenaros : ix. 36

Tages: 1.637

Tagus : vii. 755

Tanais: the Don : iii. 273; viii. 319

Taranis : i. 416

Taras : v. 376

Tarcondimotus : ix. 219

Tarsos : iii. 225

Tartara : iii. 17, etc.

Taurus : a sign of the Zodiac : iii.

255; ix. 533
Taurus : a mountain in Asia Slinor ;

iii. 225; viii. 255
Taygetus : v. 52
Telmessus : viii. 248
Tempe : vi. 345 ; viii. 1
Teutates : i. 446
Teuton! : vi. 269
Thebae : viii. 407
Themis : v. 81
Theseus ii. 612

Thesproti : a people in Epiros : iii. 179
Thracia : il. 162
Thybris: ii. 421, etc.

Thyestea : vii.* 451

Tigranes : iii. 637

Tigris: vi. 51, etc.

Timavus : vii. 194

Tisiphone : vi. 730

Titaresos : a river in Thessaly • Ti.37e

Titii : i. 602

Tityoa : iv. 596

Torquatus : vi. 286

Trachin : vi. 353

Trebia: ii. 46

Treviri : i. 441

Tritonia : ix. 682

Tritonis: ix. 354

Troia: iii. 212; ix. 964

TuUius : vii. 63

Tuscus : i. 637

Typhoeus : v. 101

Typhon : iv. 695 ; vi. 92

Trrii : v. 108

Tyros : iii. 217

Umbri : ii. 430
Uma : Aquarius :
Utica : vi. 306

ix. 637

Vangiones : a German tri^e : i. 431
Varus, P. Attius: ii. 466; iv. 667;

viii. 287
Varus : a river in Gaul : i. 404
Veil: V. 28; vii. 392
Venetus : iv. 134
Venus : i. 661 ; x. 208
Vettones : a Portuguese tribe : iv. 9
Virgo: a constellation: iii. 691
Vosegus : i. 397
Vulteius : iv. 465, etc.
Vultur : a mountain in Apulia : ix.

185
Vultumus: a river in Campania:

ii. 423

Xanthus : ix. 975
Xerxes: ii. 672

Zeugma : a city in Syria ;
Zmyma : ix. 984

Tiii. 237

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